Angelic ^eings: 

THEIR 

NATURE AND MINISTRY. 



BY THE 




REV. CHARLES D. BELL, 

RECTOR OF CHELTENHAM, AND HON. CANON OF CARLISLE. 



LONDON: 
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 
56, Paternoster Row, 65, St. Paul's Churchyard, 
and 164, Piccadilly, 
manchester ! corporation street. brighton : western road. 



Z. H15 a 



LONDON : KNIGHT, PRINTER, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. 




PREFACE, 



HE present papers are selected from a course 
of Lectures lately delivered to my ordinary 
congregation in Cheltenham. They are 
slightly altered and abridged to suit the present 
form of publication. My readers will hence judge 
why the style adopted is popular and practical, 
rather than metaphysical and abstruse. 

In other Lectures I have dwelt upon individual 
instances of angelic ministrations to the sons of men. 
These may, perhaps, be submitted to public notice in 
a future volume. At present it is thought best to 
confine attention to a general view of the subject. 

Nor would the series be complete without reference, 
sad and gloomy though it must be, to those angelic 
beings who kept not their first estate, but became 
rebels, and, in consequence, outcasts from the favour 




iv 



PREFACE. 



of God and the bliss of heaven. Their original 
happiness, their sad declension, their evil influence 
upon men, their present wicked doings and future 
tremendous doom ; these are subjects for trembling 
interest and for solemn warning. But this part of 
the question must also be postponed to a future 
opportunity. 

How is it that the subject of angelic agency, 
fraught with so much comfort and instruction, has 
been so largely neglected amongst us ? " So little 
has been revealed, we must not be wise above what 
is written !" "It is the part of humility not to pry 
into subjects so much above us!" Such are some 
of the excuses invented, it is to be feared, in too 
many cases, to cover idleness and justify indifference. 
It is not real humility to ignore what God has dis- 
closed. It is the part of true wisdom to investigate 
prayerfully, and grasp firmly, what the Holy Ghost 
has been pleased to reveal, whether little or much, 
on this and on every other subject. 

" Thinking about angels," another will say, "may 
lead to the worshipping of angels, as witness the 
modern Church of Rome." A very poor argument 
this. Are we to renounce a privilege because some 
have abused it ? Are we to grope willingly in dark- 



PREFACE. 



V 



ness because Satan sometimes is transformed into 
an angel of. light? Grant that the Apostate of the 
seven hills has transformed these sympathizing friends 
into unwilling objects of shameless idolatry; I would 
simply ask what saving Gospel truth has not 
Rome travestied and corrupted ? What streams 
from the Fountain of Life has not Rome polluted 
and poisoned ? 

We will not give up our Bibles because the Vatican 
proscribes them. We will meet the enemy with the 
sling and the stone. " What is written/' shall be our 
study, — "Thus it is written/' shall be our weapon. 
Let us, then, strive to make ourselves acquainted, 
so far as may be, with those spiritual beings who 
are our trusty friends now, and are to be our loving 
companions hereafter. 

The attempt now made to unveil angelic character, 
and to trace angelic agency, I commend to the Lord 
of angels, and the blessing of the Spirit, in the hope 
that it may be instrumental in promoting His glory 
and comforting His saints. 

The Rectory, Cheltenham : 
April, 1875. 



CONTENTS. 

i. Angelic Beings 

ii. Angelic Natures 

hi. Angels called to Worship . 

iv. Angels Praising 

v. Angels Rejoicing . 
vi. Angels Inquiring 

vii. Angels Taught 

viii. Angels Ministering 

ix. The Cherubim 

x. The Angel of the Covenant . 



I. 



NGELIC E I N G S. 



" §hss thz ^oxb, xjz ^is angels, that excel in stxztiQth, 
that bo Ifjis zmxwmnbmmts, Item toning mxto thz boixz at 
%jis tocri." Psa. ciii. 20. ■ 




E inhabit a world of boundless variety and 
beauty. The Book of Nature is written 
within and without with truths fitted to 
elevate as well as to awe the mind. All that we 
see around us illustrates the infinite resources of an 
Omnipotent Creator, who " spake, and it was done," 
who " commanded, and it stood fast/' The beauties 
of nature are eloquent, not only touching the Divine 
power, but the Divine love also, which willed a 
universe into being, that He might lavish upon it the 
proofs of an infinite affection. When we speak of 
creation, we mean not simply the objects of sense ; 
not merely the system of worlds, compared with 
which our planet is little more than a large aerolite ; 
not exclusively the material heaven, or the earth and 



4 ANGELIC BEINGS. 

those who people it. We include that vast multitude 
of Intelligences who have no bodily form, — none at 
least that our present eyesight can discern — beings 
who " excel in strength," as God's word declares, and 
in wisdom also, for they " do His commandments, 
hearkening unto the voice of His word." 1 ' These 
occupy an intermediate sphere between the Divine 
and the human natures. It is but natural to suppose 
that there should be other and nobler forms of life 
between us and the Highest Life of all. The micro- 
scope reveals to us new regions of animated existence 
in the descending scale. Between the lowest form 
thus laid bare, and man, with his marvellous apparatus 
of bodily organs, his moral and mental faculties, and 
the dignity conferred on him as creation's lord and 
master, a whole world of separation intervenes. It 
were unreasonable to suppose that the ascending 
scale of life stops with man ; that there are no con- 
necting links leading upwards through various grades 
and orders to the Eternal and Infinite Jehovah, King 
and Creator of all. But we are not left to conjecture 
on this interesting subject. Scripture has laid open 

1 Psa. ciii. 20. 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 5 

to our view the world of unseen spirits, and has given 
some information about the thrones, and dominions, 
and principalities, and powers in the heavenly places; 1 
revealing to us their differing ranks and stations, the 
attributes that belong to them, the enjoyments they 
possess, the employments in which they are engaged. 
The Bible abounds in angelic appearances and 
angelic ministrations. Angels meet us at the be- 
ginning of the Old Testament, and are closely asso- 
ciated with some of its most remarkable histories and 
events. They meet us also throughout the New 
Testament. We find them ministering to our Lord, 
and to His servants the apostles ; and we learn from 
the wondrous book which closes the sacred canon, 
that they have an important part to fulfil in the 
events that shall wind up the present dispensation. 

Such being the case, and since there are so many 
facts and promises of Holy Writ relating to " the 
elect angels/' 2 and so many warnings and exhorta- 
tions connected with the fallen angels, it must be 
profitable to consider what Scripture reveals touching 
those great and glorious spirits, to whom the Psalmist 

1 Col. i. 16. 2 I Tim. v. 21. 



6 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 



makes the stirring appeal : " Bless the Lord, ye 
His angels, that excel in strength, that do His 
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His 
word." 

I shall, in the present lecture, deal generally with 
the subject of good angels, their ministry and mission ; 
glancing at the several Scripture accounts of their 
appearances to men, and to Him who for our redemp- 
tion became a Son of man. 

Angels are introduced to our notice very early in 
the Bible. Adam falls ; the curse is pronounced ; 
Paradise can no longer be the abode of the guilty 
pair : they are expelled, and two cherubim are 
placed at the gate of Eden, with " a flaming sword 
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree 
of life." 1 An angel comforted Hagar when she fled 
from the face of her mistress into the wilderness, and 
sent her back to the tent of Abraham, with the pro- 
mise that she should become the mother of a son 
whose seed should "not be numbered for multitude." 2 
Again the angel of God consoled the weeping bond- 
1 Gen. iii. 24. 2 Gen. xvi. 10. 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 7 

woman when she was an outcast with her boy from 
the patriarch's tent. The water in the bottle was 
exhausted, and when, in a mother's despair, she threw 
her child under one of the shrubs, and withdrew a 
good way off, that she might not see him die, this 
heavenly messenger opened the eyes of Hagar, 
blinded by her tears, and she saw a well of water 
bubbling up at her feet : the life of the lad was saved, 
and he became, according to the Divine promise, 
" a great nation." 

Three angels in the guise of men appeared to 
Abraham in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the 
tent door in the heat of the day. One of them— 
evidently the Lord of angels Himself — foretold the 
birth of Isaac, and the approaching judgment on the 
Cities of the Plain. It was an angel who, when 
Abraham was on the point of sacrificing his son, in 
obedience to the Divine command, discovered to him 
the ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Two angels 
placed each a hand upon Lot, and compelled him to 
leave the doomed Sodom. Jacob had a vision of 
angels at Bethel, when, with the ground for his bed, 
the stone for his pillow, and the sky for his canopy, 



8 ANGELIC BEINGS. 

he saw in his dream a mystic ladder reaching from 
earth to heaven, which was traversed by these bright 
messengers of God. A troop of angels — u God's 
host" — met Jacob at Mahanaim, before his interview 
with Esau after his return from Padan-aram ; and it 
was with an angel — the Angel of the covenant — that 
he wrestled at Peniel through the night until the 
breaking of the day. 

It was the same angel who went before the chosen 
nation as they left Egypt, on their way to the pro- 
mised land. This angel appeared also unto Joshua 
before Jericho, and revealed himself as the " Captain 
of the host of the Lord." It was an angel who came 
to Manoah and his wife, and gladdened their hearts 
by the promise of Samson's birth. An angel shut 
the mouths of the hungry lions when Daniel, falsely 
accused, was thrown into their cruel den. It was an 
angel who commissioned Philip to go down from- 
Samaria into the desert of Gaza, to meet the 
Ethiopian eunuch. An angel informed Cornelius the 
centurion that his prayers and his alms had gone up 
for a memorial before God. An angel delivered Peter 
out of the prison into which he had been thrown by 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 



9 



Herod. An angel stood by Paul on the night of the 
shipwreck in the ^Egean Sea, and assured him that 
not a life should be lost in the storm. 

Thus angels appear again and again in the Old and 
New Testaments. Now they come with messages of 
mercy, now with denunciations of wrath. Sometimes 
they are ministers of God's loving mercy, sometimes 
of His righteous judgments. An angel slew all the 
firstborn in the land of Egypt, in punishment of 
Pharaoh's pride ; an angel brought a pestilence upon 
Jerusalem, for the sin of David in numbering the 
people ; an angel destroyed in one night a hundred 
and fourscore and five thousand of the Assyrian foe ; 
an angel struck Herod with a loathsome disease, as 
he sat upon his throne, and whilst the voices of a 
blasphemous flattery were sounding in his ears. 

Thus angels are the ministers of God in His pro- 
vidential government of this lower world. And as 
they delight to do the commandments of the Lord, 
" hearkening unto the voice of His word," it was but 
natural that when the eternal Son left heaven for our 
sake, and was made in the likeness of men, they 
should attend Him through each stage of His earthly 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 



career. It is Gabriel, who stands in the presence of 
God, who announces to Mary that she is to be the 
mother of the world's Redeemer ; angels proclaim to 
the shepherds that Christ is born in the city of David ; 
a' choir of the heavenly host fill the night with 
songs as they herald the glad event, and praise God 
by singing, u Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, goodwill toward men." 1 "When He bringeth 
in the First-begotten into the world, He saith, And let 
all the angels of God worship Him." 2 When Herod 
threatens the young child's life, an angel warns Joseph 
to go down into Egypt ; and when this danger is past, 
an angel bids him return to the land of Judea. When 
our Lord is led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to 
be tempted of the devil, and is there left exhausted 
from the preceding long fast, and the terrible struggle 
with the evil one, " angels came and ministered unto 
Him/' 3 Towards the close of His life of sorrow and 
toil, when He knelt in an agony in the garden, %t there 
appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strength- 
ening Him." 4 "Twelve legions of angels," 5 He tells 

1 Luke ii. 14. 2 Heb. i. 6. 3 Matt. iv. n. 

4 Luke xxii. 43. 5 Matt. xxvi. 55. 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 



II 



us, would have flown to His rescue, had He but 
spoken the word ; and, " encamping round about 
Him " with their shining squadrons, would have 
delivered Him from the hands of His enemies ; but 
it must not be — for how then would the Scriptures 
have been fulfilled ? So no angel interposes on His 
behalf : He is betrayed into the hands of enemies, 
mocked, scourged, buffeted, crucified, "for us men, 
and for our salvation." 

But when all is over, and when the cross has 
been endured, the shame despised, the sin borne ; 
when the sacred body has been taken down from 
the tree, and laid in the rocky tomb, angels appear 
again. An angel rolls away the stone from the 
door of the sepulchre ; angels tell the wondering and 
weeping women that the living One is not to be 
sought among the dead, for that "He is risen/' as 
He said. And when, after forty days, He ascends 
far above all heavens, it was angels, we may be sure, 
who called upon the gates to lift up their heads, and 
the everlasting doors to throw open their portals, that 
the King of glory might come in ; whilst angels 

upon earth assure His gazing disciples that He 

B 



12 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 



"shall so come in like manner as ye have seen 
Him go into heaven." 1 

Nor did the ministrations of angels to Christ ter- 
minate here. They are continued in the world above, 
where "the King eternal, immortal, invisible" unveils 
the splendour of His face, and the Lamb stands in the 
midst of the throne : there they worship before the 
footstool of the Redeemer, and present unto Him an 
unceasing tribute of praise. " I beheld," says St. John, 
" and I heard the voice of many angels round about 
the throne and the beasts and the elders : and the 
number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, 
and thousands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice, 
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, 
and glory, and blessing." 2 

It is revealed, moreover, in the Apocalypse, that 
angels are constantly employed by the Redeemer 
as ministers of His will ; that through them He 
carries on the government of the world and of His 
church to the end of time ; that they are His agents 
in restraining the violence of persecution ; in sounding 
1 Acts i. ii. 2 Rev. v. n, 12. 



ANGELIC BEINGS. I 3 

the trumpets of judgment; in pouring out the vials 
of wrath upon the enemies of God ; in raising the 
shout of triumph over the fall of the mystic Babylon, 
and in celebrating the Saviour's victory over all His 
foes. Angels are to accompany the Saviour when 
He comes to judgment: they are to reap the harvest 
of the world, to separate the tares from the wheat, 
and to gather out from His kingdom all things that 
offend, and all them that work iniquity. 

We see then how the Bible, from first to last, 
records angelic ministrations, not only to the servants 
of God, but to the Son of God Himself. What 
reasons have we for believing in the continuance of 
angelic ministrations to the disciples and servants of 
Christ in the present day ? 

It is a remarkable as well as beautiful saying of the 
apostle John, "As He is, so are we in this world." 1 
" As " Christ "is, so are we " in point of privilege; 
" partakers " in Him "of the Divine nature;" raised 
up together with Him, and made to " sit together in 
; heavenly places ;" and in various ways sharers in His 
kingly glory. And this sameness of privilege being 

1 I John iv. 17. 



14 ANGELIC BEINGS. 

a law of that kingdom in which He is "the firstborn 
among many brethren;" in which we are "heirs 
together with Him " of all those rights of adoption 
as sons of U-od, one result is, that as angels were His 
attendants as "the Heir," so, by His gracious ap- 
pointment, they are our attendants as " heirs " like- 
wise. It is true of His people now, as it was in the 
Psalmist's days, "The angel of the Lord ericampeth 
round about them that fear Him, and delivereth 
them." 1 Of us the promise holds good, even as it 
did of our Master, " He shall give His angels charge 
over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They 
shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy 
foot against a stone." 2 "Are they not all ministering 
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be 
heirs of salvation ?" 3 Angels take a deep interest in 
all that concerns us. "There is joy in the presence 
of the angels of God over one sinner that re- 
penteth." 4 When saints meet for worship, angels 
are present. This appears from the apostles in- 
junction to the Corinthians, 5 that the woman praying 

1 Psa. xxxiv. 7. 2 Psa. xci. 11, 12. 3 Heb. i. 14. 

4 Luke xv. 10. 5 1 Cor. xi. 10. 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 1 5 

or prophesying should have power (or "a covering ") 
on her head " because of the angels." And if angels 
be present in our solemn assemblies, must they not 
be pleased or pained by our behaviour in the 
sanctuary, by the manner in which we worship the 
" Father of the spirits of all flesh," by the attitude in 
which we listen to the embassage of reconciliation ? 

It is thought by some that each saint of God 
has his guardian angel, whose eye is always upon 
him, and whose love continually guards him. This 
view largely rests upon the Lord's injunction, " Take 
heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for 
I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always 
behold the face of My Father which is in heaven." 1 

Such angelic guardianship was certainly the belief 
of the early Christian church. When Peter was 
delivered from prison by the instrumentality of an 
angel, he knocked for admittance at the house of 
Mary the mother of John, where prayer was being 
made on the apostle's behalf. The assembled dis- 
ciples hesitated to accept the literal fact, saying, " It 
is his angel," 2 — his guardian and attendant spirit. 
1 Matt, xviii. 10. 2 Acts xii. 15. 



i6 



ANGELIC BEINGS. 



Whether this notion be correct, or not, it is not too 
much to say that these bright and blessed spirits do, 
by God's appointment, lead us on our way, as they 
did God's servants of old ; that they protect us as 
they did Daniel ; that they fight for us as they did 
for Joshua ; that they refresh, and strengthen, and 
deliver us from death, as they did in the case of many 
an ancient saint. And when the time of a believer's 
departure has finally arrived, they carry him, as they 
did Lazarus, into the unseen world, and rejoice to 
place him in the rest and safety of the Good 
Shepherd's arms. It may indeed be urged that there 
is One greater than angels who is our Friend — One 
as full of pity as He is full of power, and who is 
i about our path, and about our bed, and spieth out 
all our ways." Yet doth He act providentially to- 
wards us by the agency of creatures, whether angelic 
or human. And the angels, we must remember, are 
bound up with us in the unity of one blessed family 
in Christ ; for it was the good pleasure of God 
" which He hath purposed in Himself, that He should 
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which 
are in heaven, and which are on earth." " Ye are 



ANGELIC BEINGS. J 7 

come/' saith the apostle, amongst other blessed com- 
panionships, " to an innumerable company of angels." 1 
Let us thank God for revealing to us this precious 
truth ; and let us endeavour to glorify the Lord of 
angels and of men, who has knit us in one holy com- 
munion and fellowship with those pure and blessed 
spirits. Let us ask ourselves, Are we preparing for 
the society of such holy companions hereafter ? Are 
we praying that God's " will may be done on earth as 
it is in heaven ?" Are we living as we pray, and so 
beginning the life of heaven on this side the grave ? 
Are we, through the promised aid of God's Holy 
Spirit, becoming " meet for the inheritance of the 
saints in light ?" May we so make it " Christ "to 
" live," that when we die, " death" shall be " gain," 
and angels may carry us home to heaven and to God. 
May we so honour Christ by a life of holy and blame- 
less consistency, that when He comes again, and 
"shall send His angels with a great sound of a 
trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect 
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the 
other," 2 we may be found amongst those of whom 

1 Eph. i. 9, io ; Heb. xii. 22. 2 Matt. xxiv. 31. 



1 3 ANGELIC BEINGS. 

the Saviour says, u I will confess them before the 
angels of God." And so, when this dispensation is 
ended, and the mystery of redemption accomplished, 
and the harvest of the world is gathered in, we shall 
find ourselves in that glorious temple where "the 
redeemed stand before the throne," and the angels 
stand round about it, — the ransomed forming the 
inner circle of that splendid throng, — and where the 
voice of praise ever soundeth : " Blessing, and glory, 
and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and 
power, and might, be unto our God for ever and 
ever. Amen." 1 

Then shall saints and angels vie with one another 
in praising God. In their overflowing joy they shall 
provoke each other to richer strains of thanksgiving 
and adoration. And then the redeemed, in the ful- 
ness of their rapture, shall re-echo the invitation : 
" Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts ; ye ministers 
of His, that do His pleasure." 2 Amen. 

1 Rev. vii. 12. 2 Psa. ciii. 21. 



II. 



NGELIC JTaTURES. 



u Wiho maftttfo $}is mQtlz spirits ; gjis mimsttxs a 
tlaminfl fm," Psa. civ. 4. 





HE Bible contains a biography of man. It 
relates the story of his fall and redemption, 
his present conflict and future destiny. It 
reveals the existence of God ; His character and 
attributes ; His grace and glory ; His loving dealings 
with this planet, — perhaps the only fallen world 
among the multitudes He created. 

The Bible also introduces angels to our notice : 
beings who occupy the foremost rank of created 
intelligences. Some of these are " elect," or " chosen," 
who have been confirmed by God in their holy posi- 
tion. Others have " left their first estate," and are 
in a condition of rebellion against their Maker. Let 
us examine the statements of Scripture respecting 
these glorious beings who hold an intermediate 



22 



ANGELIC NATURES. 



position between us and God, higher at present than 
we are, of nobler powers and mightier capacities. 

(i.) Angels are many in number. " The chariots of 
God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : 
the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy 
place." 1 Daniel the prophet " beheld till the thrones 
were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, 
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of 
His head like the pure wool. . . Thousand thousands 
ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten 
thousand stood before Him." 2 Elisha, compassed 
about with enemies in Dothan, thus allays the appre- 
hensions of his faithful servant : " Fear not : for they 
that be with us are more than they that be with 
them." And when the Lord opened the eyes of the 
young man, in answer to the prophet's prayer, "he 
saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses 
and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 3 

Other passages of Scripture bear testimony to the 
vast number of angels that wait on the will of the 
King eternal, immortal, invisible. Jacob, as we have 
seen, was met by two hosts of angels. Our Lord, in 

1 Psa. lxviii. 17. 2 Dan. vii. 9, 10. 8 2 Kings vi. 17. 



ANGELIC NATURES. 



23 



Gethsemane, asserts His power to summon "more 
than twelve legions of angels." St. Paul alludes to 
44 an innumerable company of angels." St. John in 
the Apocalypse, when a door has been opened before 
him in heaven, hears the voice of many angels round 
about the throne, and " the number of them was ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands." In accordance with this idea, our great poet 
puts these words into the mouth of Adam,— 

" Nor think though men were none 
That heaven would want spectators, God want praise. 
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep ; 
All these with ceaseless praise His works behold 
Both day and night. . . . Oft in bands, 
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk, 
With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds, 
In full harmonic numbers joined, their songs 
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven. ,, 

(2.) Angels are not only countless in number y but of 
different ranks and orders. There are Cherubim and 
Seraphim, thrones and dominions, principalities and 
powers. These "morning stars" differ from one 
another in glory. 

(3.) Angels excel in strength. The Psalmist ex- 



24 ANGELIC NATURES. 

pressly affirms this : " Bless the Lord, ye His angels, 
that excel in strength, that do His commandments." 1 
St. Paul, speaking of the Lord's second advent, in- 
forms us that He "shall be revealed from heaven 
with His mighty angels," or the angels of His 
power. In the Apocalypse we read of an angel who 
"came down from heaven, having great power; and 
the earth was lightened with his glory ;" and of 
another who is called " a mighty angel,' 7 who " took 
up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the 
sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city 
Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more 
at all." 2 Not only does God's word attribute to 
angels this property of might and strength, but we 
gather the same truth from the works which they do, 
the achievements they accomplish. When God would 
destroy in one night the firstborn of all the Egyptians, 
He sent orth an angel, winged with death, to spread 
terror and desolation through the land. When David 
numbered the people, an angel is the agent in the 
pestilence that is to destroy seventy thousand persons 
as a punishment for the ruler's sin. An angel goes 

1 Psa. ciii. 20. 2 Rev. xviii. I, 21. 



ANGELIC NATURES. 2$ 

forth at God's command, and smites in one night 
" a hundred fourscore and five thousand " of the 
Assyrian foe. At the touch of an angel the chains 
fall from the fettered limbs of Peter, whilst the iron 
gate opened of its own accord for the passage of the 
Lord's freeman. An angel lays his hand on the pre- 
sumptuous Herod, and he is at once stricken in his 
pride, — he is " eaten of worms, and gives up the 
ghost." The angels' might is strikingly revealed in 
the mystic volume of the Revelation. Here angels 
are represented as restraining the winds, that they 
should not blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on 
any tree ; angels sound the trumpets, and judgments 
of hail, and fire, and blood immediately follow. 
Angels pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon 
the earth ; and when the harvest is ripe for the Divine 
judgments, they thrust in the sickle, and cast the 
grapes into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 
Angels may, therefore, well be called " mighty angels," 
girded as they are with strength, and able to do what- 
ever is commanded by God. 

As a practical thought, there flows to us great 
comfort from this truth ; for how safe and secure 



26 



ANGELIC NATURES. 



must they be who are placed under guardianship so 
noble, and protected by spirits so powerful. David 
dwells upon this consolatory fact: " Because thou hast 
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most 
High, thy habitation ; there shall no evil befall thee, 
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For 
He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep 
thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in 
their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." 1 
No king has such a retinue of attendants ; no 
monarch, in his loftiest state, such a royal guard as 
the humblest believer in Christ Jesus. 

(4.) Angels are holy beings. These " stars of the 
morning" — these "sons of God" — were created pure 
and perfect, fitted to stand continually in the Divine 
presence, and to perform the will of the Triune 
Jehovah. "Holiness to the Lord" is inscribed on 
their dazzling brows ; pervades all their thoughts ; 
characterizes all their actions, and hallows all their 
employments. Their happiness consists in the ser- 
vice of their God. Some, with folded wings, wait 
the Lord's will before the throne ; others, with out- 

1 Psa. xci. 9-12. 



ANGELIC NATURES. 27 

stretched pinions, fly with the swiftness of the wind 
to carry out His commands. It matters not on what 
errand they are sent, — whether to a king's palace or 
a peasant's hut ; whether to the desert or the city ; 
on a lofty mission or a lowly message ; whether on 
a purpose of mercy or of judgment, — they go forth 
with the same desire to glorify God and to do His 
will. Whatever powers they have of knowledge, or 
of speed, or of strength, are all joyfully dedicated to 
Him before whom they cry with a voice that rests 
not day nor night, — u Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." 

(5.) Angels are immortal. Our Lord, in refuting 
an objection raised by the Sadducees against the 
resurrection of the body, answering, said unto them, 
" The children of this world marry, and are given in 
marriage : but they which shall be accounted worthy 
to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the 
dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage : 
neither can they die any more : for they are equal 
unto the angels." 1 

Angels, then, cannot die. Their ranks are never 

1 Luke xx. 34-36. 
C 



28 



ANGELIC NATURES. 



thinned by the inroads of " the last enemy;" "the 
king of terrors " is armed with no dread for them ; 
they are beyond his power, they defy his dart. Time 
makes no wrinkles on their brow, writes no furrow 
on their cheek. They are free from the sorrows, 
and infirmities, and sicknesses to which flesh is 
heir. Though thousands of years have passed over 
their heads, they still shine in the loveliness of 
unfading beauty and undecaying strength. When 
they appear in the Scriptures they are represented 
as youthful in aspect — uninjured by the lapse of 
ages, and are still, after the flight of countless years, 
in the morning of an endless existence. 

(6.) Angels are gifted with high powers of intellect 
and knowledge. Man has a mind of wonderful 
capacity. He can travel in thought and discovery 
from star to star ; can ascertain the substance and 
measure the distance of suns and planets; and, rising 
above them, and passing beyond them, can hold 
fellowship with the eternal and ever-blessed God. 
But if the mind of man be thus great, we have 
reason to believe that it is surpassed by that of 
angels, whose attributes are in all respects nobler 



ANGELIC NATURES. 29 

and finer than his. Like the "four living things," 1 
they are "full of eyes within;" gathering knowledge 
by intuition, and able to enter into the marvellous 
plans and purposes of the Divine will. Their dwell- 
ing-place is a world of which it is said, "There is 
no night there." From that land of illumination 
ignorance is banished; there they see not "through 
a glass darkly," but "face to face;" they "know 
even as they are known." Theirs is the privilege of 
drinking from the very well-head of knowledge ; of 
standing in the full lustre of the glory of Him whose 
works and ways are their constant study, and whose 
perfections it is their delight not only to compre- 
hend but to weave into their songs of praise. 

So much, then, we are taught by the Bible about 
angels. They are of various ranks and orders ; their 
number is vast; they "excel in strength," and are 
girded with power ; they are holy, blessed, and 
immortal ; they are endowed with a lofty intelli- 
gence, and their knowledge of God, in whose pre- 
sence they stand, is unclouded and clear. Such 
are those bright and blessed beings of whom the 

1 Rev. iv. 8. 



30 ANGELIC NATURES. 

Psalmist speaks, when, dwelling on the creative 
power of God, he exclaims, "Who maketh His 
angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire." 

We may derive instruction and encouragement 
from the revelation made to us about angels. Re- 
member the promise of our Lord,— "They which 
shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and 
the resurrection from the dead . . . are equal unto 
the angels." Let us try to grasp this one thought — 
"Equal unto the angels." 

The saints shall equal angels in power, and being 
girded with the same strength shall have possibilities 
of service before them, capacities for noble actions 
and lofty achievements undreamt of here, and which 
" it hath not entered into the heart of man to con- 
ceive." Rapid as the lightning, swift as the wind, 
they will be able to pass from star to star> from one 
world to another, to the most distant provinces of the 
infinite universe to execute the commands of God. 
Saints shall equal the angels in holiness. Perfect and 
pure, and renewed after the image of God ; not a 
sinful thought or evil desire shall ever soil their mind, 
or cast a shadow upon their soul. God's will shall 



ANGELIC NATURES. 3 1 

be the rule of their being ; God's law their delight ; 
God's love the element in which they live. 

Saints shall equal the angels in immortality. 
" They shall not die any more unfading youth and 
beauty shall be their portion ; and, clothed in the 
glories of the resurrection, they shall shine with a 
splendour that imagination hath not conceived of 
here even in its wildest dream. Then " death shall 
be swallowed up in victory," and " mortality shall be 
swallowed up of life." Ages shall roll on, only to find 
the redeemed in the morning of an everlasting exist- 
ence ; and their life, ever expanding and deepening, 
shall run parallel with that of the Everliving God. 

Saints shall equal angels in knowledge. The book 
of nature shall open to them its marvels ; the volume 
of redemption its mysteries. They shall read all the 
wonders of Creation and Providence in the clear 
shining of the light of God. 

" Equal to the angels." Is this all ? Nay, I be- 
lieve that the saved sinner shall hold a place superior 
to angels. Man, through redemption, becomes what 
an angel cannot become. " To which of the angels 
said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have 



32 ANGELIC NATURES. 

I begotten Thee ?" And though these words refer 
primarily to Christ, yet, inasmuch as all believers 
are made children of God by adoption, the expres- 
sions may be used as representing their pre-eminent 
dignity in the family of heaven. I claim for every 
saint in the ^household of God a position of higher 
honour than any which belongs to the principalities 
and powers in heavenly places, simply because 
Christ " took not on Him the nature of angels, but 
. . . the seed of Abraham ;" and because through 
grace we become " partakers of the Divine nature." 
I would not, therefore, exchange the crown that shall 
be worn by the redeemed for any that circles an 
angel's brow. I believe that the ransomed of the 
Lord shall hold a position nearer to the throne than 
the very noblest of unfallen spirits. I say this 
advisedly, even while I bless the Lord our God for 
the creation in wonderful majesty, glory, and great- 
ness of those blessed Intelligences of whom the 
admiring Psalmist speaks when he proclaims the 
truth I have been illustrating, "Who maketh His 
angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire." 



III. 



y^NGELS CALLED TO jA/oRSHIP. 



" JUtD again, tolun $)e brin^tth in the Jfirstbegoitert 
into the tooxlb, $z eaiift, JVnb let ail the angels of 
<§at» towship Dim." Heb. i. 6. 



jptttgels jcalleb to "^STarjship. 



T is "the Lord of angels" that is to occupy 
our attention in the present lecture. 

The inspired apostle 1 proves the superi- 
ority of Christ to angels, and shows how, in dignity 
and glory, He excels the highest of created beings. 
In exalting the Eternal Son to the throne of the 
universe, the apostle speaks of Him as "the bright- 
ness of the Fathers glory, and the express image 
of His person;" as one who " upholds all things 
by the word of His power;" and who, having "by 
Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand 
of the Majesty on high." He is made, we are told, 
"so. much better than the angels, as He hath by 
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than 

1 Hob. i. 




36 ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

they. For unto which of the angels said He at 
any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I be- 
gotten Thee ? And again, I will be to Him a 
Father, and He shall be to Me a Son ? And again, 
when He bringeth in the first-begotten into the 
world, He saith, And let all the angels of God 
worship Him. And of the angels He saith, Who 
maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame 
of fire. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, 
O God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of right- 
eousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou 
hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ; there- 
fore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with 
the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.'' And then 
follows a sublime address to Christ the Lord — "the 
Alpha and Omega," — "who was before all things, 
and by whom all things consist ;" "who created all 
things, and for whose pleasure they are and were 
created." " And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast 
laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens 
are the works of Thine hands. They shall perish ; 
but Thou remainest ; and they all shall wax old as 
doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold 



ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 37 

them up, and they shall be changed : but Thou 
art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." 

Let us consider the several respects in which 
Christ is superior to the angels. 

(1.) He is their Creator. It was the " Word," the 
Son — " who was in the bosom of the Father from the 
beginning, who called the heavenly hosts into being ; 
who dowered them with beauty, girded them with 
strength, and gave them the noble capacities and 
powers which they possess. Time was when Jehovah 
in the mystery of His threefold Deity was alone ; 
when the communion and fellowship of the Eternal 
Three were all in all, and no creature hymned their 
praise, or worshipped before the throne. Then God, 
in the exuberance of a love that would make others 
sharers of His bliss, resolved on the act of creation, 
and through His Son, the great agent in giving effect 
to His will, filled immensity with worlds, and called 
various orders and ranks of intelligence into existence. 
When the first act of creative power was put forth 
we are not told ; after what lapse of ages the worlds 
were summoned into being is not recorded. But 
in due time God, through the voice of the Word, 



38 ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

* spake, and it was done : commanded, and it stood 
fast." Sun after sun, star after star, system after 
system, flashed into being, declaring the glory of 
God, and showing forth His handywork. As we 
have no information touching the time w r hen the 
worlds were created, so have we none as to the 
time when the angels were formed. We know, 
however, that they owe their creation to Christ ; 
for so much we learn from the sure word of God. 
When St. John opens his Gospel with the words, 
" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God ; the same was in 
the beginning with God," he adds, " All things were 
made by Him, and without Him was not anything 
made that was made." St. Paul, in ascribing the 
glories of creation to Christ, sweeps the whole uni- 
verse, and represents Him as giving birth and being 
to all orders and ranks of existence. "By Him were 
all things created, that are in heaven, and that are 
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be 
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : 
all things were created by Him, and for Him : and 
He is before all things, and by Him all things 



ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 39 

consist." 1 And as Christ was the Creator of angels, 
it was but natural that when in the purpose of God 
He w r as to become Incarnate for the redemption of 
the world, the Father should set Him forth in His 
new character of Mediator as an object of adoration. 
" When He bringeth in the first-begotten into the 
world, He saith, And let all the angels of God 
worship Him." 

(2.) That the Eternal Son is the Lord of angels 
is evident from the worship which these holy beings 
offer to Him, and the reverence that they pay. 
The worship which He receives separates Christ 
from angels by an infinite distance. " Thou shalt 
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt 
thou serve." 2 These words of Christ are but an 
echo of the command which the Almighty ad- 
dressed to the chosen nation when He placed Him- 
self before them as the sole object of their adoration. 
That Christ may be worshipped, and is to be wor- 
shipped by angels and by men, is a proof that He is 
" God over all, blessed for ever." Divine honours are 
paid throughout the Scriptures to the Son. In the 
1 Col. i. 16, 17. 2 Luke iv. 8. 



40 ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

sublime vision of Isaiah, when he "saw the Lord 
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His 
train filled the temple/' he beheld the seraphim, with 
faces veiled by their wings, in adoring worship before 
the Majesty of heaven. He heard them cry one to 
another, until the posts of the door moved at the 
voice of him that cried : " Holy, holy, holy, is the 
Lord of hosts : the whole earth is full of His glory." 1 
" These things said Esaias when he saw Christ's glory, 
and spake of Him." 

In the Book of Revelation we find that angels offer 
direct acts of worship to the Son, thus acknowledging 
His Divine majesty. "I beheld," says St. John, "and 
I heard the voice of many angels round about the 
throne and the beasts and the elders : and the number 
of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
thousands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice, 
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, 
and glory, and blessing. And every creature which 
is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, 
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, 

1 Isa. vi. 1-4. 



ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 



41 



heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and 
power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
unto the Lamb for ever and ever." 1 

This claim of Christ to universal worship is again 
and again insisted on in Scripture. Our Lord claims 
it for Himself. "All power is given unto Me in 
heaven and in earth." 2 St. Paul declares the same 
truth : God " raised Him from the dead, and set 
Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, 
far above all principality, and power, and might, and 
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in 
this world, but also in that which is to come : and 
hath put all things under His feet." 3 And again, 
" God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him 
a name which is above every name : that at the 
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
earth ; and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 4 
St. Peter expresses the same truth. Christ " is gone 
into heaven, and is on the right hand of God ; 



Rev. v. n-i3> 
Eph. i. 20-22. 



2 Matt, xxviii. 18. 
4 Phil. ii. 9-11. 



42 ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

angels and authorities and powers being made subject 
unto Him." 1 

(3.) It is evident that Christ is the Lord of angels 
— the " Lord of hosts " — from this, that He uses 
angels as His ministers for the carrying out of His 
Divine will. In the government of the world, in His 
dealings with man, in His dispensations of providence 
and grace, He works by means — He employs the 
instrumentality of His creatures. Some are conscious, 
some are unconscious agents of His pleasure. Some 
are willing, others are unwilling ministers of His 
designs. He sends the canker-worm, and the palmer- 
worm, and the caterpillar, to punish a rebellious 
nation, and bring a famine on the land. He sends 
the ravens to provide for His prophet in a time of 
scarcity, and to bring him bread and flesh in the 
morning, and bread and flesh in the evening. He 
might have sustained Elijah immediately by His own 
direct power, and by His own visible hand ; but it is 
His gracious will to work by means, and make His 
creatures carry out His purposes. He uses His 
angels in like manner. " He maketh His angels 

1 1 Peter iii. 22. 



ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 43 

spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." He sends 
them u forth to minister for them who shall be heirs 
of salvation." "They do His commandments, heark- 
ening unto the voice of His word." How these 
invisible spirits minister for us and to us we cannot 
say. There is a mystery in this, as in many other 
things ; and we are compelled to acknowledge the 
inspired truth : " Now we see through a glass, darkly ; 
but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then 
shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Never- 
theless, that they are appointed by the Saviour to 
be our powerful and faithful guards ; that they keep 
us in safety ; that they take heed that we come to no 
harm ; that they defend us ; go with us where we go ; 
stand as warders about the house where we lodge ; 
watch us whilst we sleep ; see that we want nothing, 
and that nothing hurts or harms us, — is evident from 
the general teaching of the Bible. And is not this 
truth one which testifies to the security of the Lord's 
people? If a man were so dear to his earthly sove- 
reign that he assigned to him a body-guard of the 
best, and strongest, and most trusty of his army, how 

1 I Cor. xiii. 12. 
D 



44 ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

safely he might walk forth : no foe could hurt him ; 
no enemy could do him violence. This is but a faint 
illustration of the security of a believer, round about 
whom angels encamp, on whose steps angels attend. 
Why, then, should we not be strong, and of a good 
courage ? 

Of course this promise of angel protection to " the 
heirs of salvation " may at times be suspended, and 
some danger be allowed to overtake us, some trouble 
to befall us, when God in His infinite wisdom sees 
that the light and momentary affliction will "work 
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory." But surely in both the angelic protection and 
the suspension of it for a season, is seen the love of 
God our Saviour to His own. 

" Oh the exceeding grace 
Of highest God that loves His creatures so, 
And all His works of mercy doth embrace, 
That blessed angels He sends to and fro, 
To serve to wicked man — to serve His wicked foes. 
How oft do they their silver bowers leave 
To come to succour us that succour want ; 
How oft do they with golden pinions cleave 
The yielding skies, like flying pursuivant 
Against foul fiends to aid us militant ! 



ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 45 

They for us fight, they watch and duly ward, 

And their bright squadrons round about us plant ; 

And all for love, and nothing for reward. 

Oh, why should heavenly God to men have such regard?" 

And all this loving ministry to us is because of our 
union with Him who, having died for our sins, now 
ever lives to provide for our wants: who "took not 
on Him the nature of angels, but took on Him the 
seed of Abraham," whom the Father so delighted to 
honour, that, a when He bringeth the first-begotten 
into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of 
God worship Him." 

(4.) That Christ is Lord of angels is seen from 
this, that He will use them as His attendants and 
His ministers in the solemnities of the great day of 
His second advent. "The Son of man shall come 
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then 
shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." 1 

Again, " The Son of man shall come in the glory 
of His Father with His angels ; and then He shall 
reward every man according to his works." 2 What 
a glory shall then surround Him, as " He appears 
the second time without sin unto salvation," no longer 

1 Matt. xxv. 31. 2 Matt. xvi. 27. 



40 ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

as "the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," 
with marred visage and lowly form ; but as " King 
of kings and Lord of lords," wearing His many 
crowns, and with the sceptre of the universe in 
His hand. No more "despised and rejected of 
men," He shall be welcomed with the songs of 
elect angels and redeemed men ; not a voice among 
the myriads that attend Him to His throne shall 
be silent ; and there shall not be a sound of dis- 
content, nor a murmur of dissatisfaction, as "the 
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of 
our Lord and of His Christ." With what joy will 
angels who ministered to Him in His humiliation, 
see Him thus triumphant over sin, and death, and 
hell, and hear the voices of a great multitude as the 
voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
thunderings, saying, "Alleluia, for the Lord God 
Omnipotent reigneth!" 

The prophet Daniel was permitted to see in vision 
this final triumph of the Son of God ; and, rapt into 
the future, he beheld the overthrow of all earthly 
dignities and thrones, of all powers that oppose them- 
selves to God, and he saw the establishment, in their 



ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 47 

place, of a kingdom of righteousness, and peace, and 
}°y> — a kingdom that could not be shaken or moved. 
" I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the 
Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white 
as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure 
wool : His throne was like the fiery flame, and 
His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued 
and came forth from before Him : thousand thou- 
sands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times 
ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment 
was set; and the books were opened." 1 " I saw 
in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son 
of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came 
to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near 
before Him. And there was given Him dominion, 
and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, 
and languages, should serve Him : His dominion 
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass 
away, and His kingdom that which shall not be 
destroyed" 2 When Christ comes to judgment, 
angels shall be His ministering reapers. " In the 
time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye 

1 Dan. vii. 9, 10. 2 Dan. vii. 13, 14. 



48 AX GELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

together first the tares, and bind them in bundles 
to burn them : but gather the wheat into my barn." 1 
Or, as He says in another passage, "The Son of man 
shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out 
of His kingdom all things that offend, and them 
which do iniquity." 2 Or, as He speaks again, "He 
shall send His angels with a great sound of a trum- 
pet, and they shall gather together His elect from the 
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." 3 

You see, then, how the Lord of angels uses these 
blessed spirits as the ministers of His will ; the 
witnesses of His justice ; the spectators of His 
righteous rewards. And as, with eyes bright with 
love and radiant with joy, they gather in the re- 
deemed to glory ; as with faces stern with severity, 
and clouded with aw r e, they consign the wicked to 
the quenchless flame, — theirs may be a song similar 
to that of the saints who witness the judgments of 
God, — " Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord 
God Almighty ; just and true are Thy ways, Thou 
King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, 
and glorify Thy name ? for Thou only art holy : for 

1 Matt. xiii. 30. 2 Matt. xiii. 41. 3 Matt. xxiv. 31. 



ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 49 

all nations shall come and worship before Thee ; for 
Thy judgments are made manifest." 1 Then, when 
the ransomed are safely gathered into the house of 
many mansions, and are made " pillars in the temple 
of their God, to go no more out," for them angel 
ministrations may cease; but for the Son, never. 
There will be means still of doing His will, and 
executing His word ; they will still be as the wind 
to go forth on His high behests; as " flames of fire" 
to burn in His happy service ; still shall they wait 
with folded wings to hear His commands ; still 
shall they fly with outspread pinions to perform 
His lightest wish ; and to all eternity shall the 
words have a meaning for the thrones and do- 
minions, and principalities and powers of heaven : 
"When He bringeth in the first-begotten into the 
world, He saith, And let all the angels of God 
worship Him." 

The conclusion of the whole matter is this. If 
angels delight to do the will of Christ, and find 
their greatest pleasure in His service ; how much 
more ought this to be the case with us, who have 

1 Rev. xv. 3, 4. 



50 ANGELS CALLED TO WORSHIP. 

been redeemed by His agony and bloody sweat, 
His cross and passion ? We owe more to Christ 
than angels do. We are bound to Him by ties of 
which they know nothing. It is our nature, not 
theirs, that He wears for ever in heaven. He has 
bought us at a price at which they were not pur- 
chased. Therefore our love to Him ought to be 
stronger; our reverence for Him deeper; our devo- 
tion to Him more perfect. Let us endeavour by 
His grace to do His will "on earth as it is done 
in heaven." 

When our earthly sphere of duty shall have passed 
away, if we have been " steadfast, immovable, always 
abounding" in His work, He will greet each one of 
us at the gates of glory with a salutation surpassing 
in blessedness any that may ever gladden the ears 
of angels : " Well done, thou good and faithful ser- 
vant : thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things : enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." 1 

1 Matt. xxv. 21. 



IV. 



NGELS ^RAISING. 



" (Slovg to (&<Ji> in the highest, ant) on otrth peace, 
gcoototll iotoaro men." Luks ii. 14. 



Jlit gels praising. 



O scene could be more peaceful than was pre- 
sented on the night that the child Jesus was 
born. It is full of pastoral beauty and sim- 
plicity. Away from the roar of cities, and the din of 
human strife, and under the shadow of the solemn 
hills, with no sound but the bleating of sheep, a few 
shepherds were keeping watch over their flock by 
night. The skies above were radiant with stars ; the 
grass below sparkling with dew ; the world all 
asleep, save only a few watchers, faithful to their 
calling in the hours when others were at rest. Types 
of the Good Shepherd, they were ever mindful of 
their charge, leading them to green pastures, and 
making them lie down by still waters ; carrying the 
lambs in their arms, and gently leading those that 




54 ANGELS PRAISING. 

were with young. To these men, engaged in their 
pastoral duties, and waiting, like others amongst the 
devout Jews, for the redemption of Israel, appeared 
the angel of the Lord in a glory that filled the dark- 
ness of the night with splendour. At this sudden 
burst of light the shepherds " were sore afraid ;" but 
the angel reassured their hearts with the tender 
words, " Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good 
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 
For unto you is born this day in the city of David 
a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall 
be a sign unto you ; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped 
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." No worldly 
pomp attends the approach of this King ; no flourish 
of trumpets announces the event ; no palace opens 
its doors to receive Him ; no purple and fine linen 
are prepared for His robes ; a stable is to be His 
birthplace, and a manger the cradle where He is 
to lie. 

But if earth is silent at the advent of her King, the 
skies are vocal ; and heaven sends forth her princi- 
palities and powers to pay their homage, and to give 
Him royal honours. " Suddenly" — like the lightning 



ANGELS PRAISING. 55 

flash — " there was with the angel a multitude of the 
heavenly host praising God." No doubt heaven 
sent all its armies forth to escort the Eternal Son to 
our world ; for if " there is joy in the presence of the 
angels of God" over the repentance of one sinner, all 
the principalities and powers, from the highest to the 
lowest, must have been moved by an event of such 
stupendous importance as the Incarnation of Him 
who was to bring many sons unto glory. And if 
at the creation of the world "the morning stars 
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
joy," could one voice in the celestial choir have 
been silent when the world was about to be re- 
deemed ? And their song of praise, — what was it ? 
One worthy of the event that called it forth. As 
it has been well said, " The heavenly hosts sing to 
the Child born in Bethlehem such a cradle-song as 
never was sung to monarch's son ; for in those 
swaddling clothes is wrapped a mystery into which 
even angels desire to look." It was a song of 
praise, an anthem of adoration — " Glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward 
men." If the music of the song floated down to 



£6 ANGELS PRAISING. 

this world in notes of triumphant gladness, it also 
ascended to heaven with the melody of thanks- 
giving and gratitude to God. The very heart of 
this song is given by a German commentator in these 
words : " This song rises up to the glory of God ; 
comes down again to proffer peace to earth; rests 
with goodwill on men. . . . How is the glory of God 
manifested in the making earth peaceful, by mercy 
and goodwill shown to sinful man ! " Or, as another 
beautifully says, " The angels' song soars to heaven, 

then stoops to earth, and concludes with men, as 

i 

though it would for ever echo in the „fyuman 
heart." 

The angels' song consists of three parts, which may 
well be considered in their order. "Glory to God 
in the highest, — on earth peace, — goodwill toward 
men." 

(i.) Glory to Godi?i the highest. This is the first note 
in the angels' song, and it is this which gives har- 
mony to all the rest. The words are an announce- 
ment of what shall actually take place through the 
redeeming work of Christ. They affirm that because 
the Saviour is born, and by the work which He shall 



ANGELS PRAISING. 57 

• 

accomplish, men shall be saved, the devil defeated, 
death abolished, and sin made an end of, — there shall 
arise a new revenue of glory to God. Redemption 
brought to light features in the Divine character that 
hitherto had remained unknown, and opened out, 
even to the celestial hosts, " a new infinity of perfec- 
tions ;" so that they understood for the first time 
that the Divine love could stoop to the lost, vanquish 
rebellion, and triumph over guilt. Mercy for the 
guilty was an attribute that lay hidden in the deep 
bosom of the Godhead till man fell, and was spared. 
The angels that never sinned did not need mercy, the 
angels who fell did not obtain it. A new perfection 
of God was made known, when to our first parents a 
Deliverer was promised, and when in the fulness of 
time the Incarnate Word came from the bosom of 
God, was made flesh, and tabernacled amongst us. 
In creation God had revealed His omnipotence, His 
wisdom, and His love ; in the swift vengeance that 
overtook the angels who sinned, He had manifested 
His justice ; but in the wondrous work of redemption 
He made known His grace, and displayed to " the 
principalities and powers in heavenly places " an 



58 ANGELS PRAISING. 

attribute of the Godhead up to this time concealed. 
And as self-manifestation is the great purpose of 
Jehovah, the first and chiefest end of redemption 
must have been the exaltation of the Divine glory. 
God is not to be conceived of as One who was 
exclusively moved by compassion when He resolved 
to save the sinner ; but as determined for His own 
sake, and for the honour of His holy Name, to build 
up a Church out of the wreck and ruin of the fall. 
Not that this was His only motive, for He was moved 
also by the tenderest pity and compassion : " God so 
loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life." 1 

Well, then, might angels sing of " Glory to God in 
the highest." Well might they adore the wisdom 
which solved the difficult problem — how the glory 
of a holy God and the good of guilty man could 
be harmonized, — how the one could be displayed, 
and the other be maintained. Well might they 
adore the holiness of God, when they discovered 
that the Father passed the sword of vengeance 

1 John iii. 16. 



ANGELS r RAISING. 59 

through the bosom of His only-begotten and well- 
beloved Son, because He was the sin-bearer. Well 
might they adore the justice of God, when they knew 
that the Surety must die that the sinner might live; 
that by no general act of amnesty did God pardon 
the guilty ; but that He punished our sins in the 
person of His Son, who died, "the just for the unjust, 
that He might bring us to God." 1 Well might they 
extol the power of God ; for that power was more 
pre-eminently illustrated in the salvation of the 
sinful than it could have been in their destruction : 
a power wonderfully exhibited in Creation, more 
abundantly illustrated in Redemption. 

As those " sons of the morning " thought of the 
Divine wisdom, holiness, justice, love, and power, 
that were displayed in the Incarnation, and anti- 
cipated the triumphs to be won by the " Child " 
that was "born," and the "Son" that was "given;" 
of God honoured, and of man redeemed ; — well 
might they pour forth their joy in the lofty strains 
of praise : " Glory to God in the highest," — this 
the first note in their song ; then, and closely con- 

1 1 Peter iii. 18. 
E 



6o 



ANGELS PRAISING. 



nected with it — " peace on earth, goodwill toward 
men." 

(2.) Peace on earth. There can be no real peace 
on earth except it come in a way honourable to God, 
and consistent with His Divine glory. Sin banished 
peace from the world ; God's holy law was violated, 
and His truth pledged to take vengeance on the 
sinners. " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou 
shalt surely die "The wages of sin is death." Man 
felt this as soon as he had committed the act of 
disobedience, and transgressed the Divine law. His 
conscience was at once alarmed, and stricken with 
a sense of guilt. When he "heard the voice of the 
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the 
day," he hid himself " from the presence of the Lord 
God amongst the trees of the garden." 1 The old 
happy communion with God was forfeited ! the two 
could not walk together now, for they were not 
agreed. How was the peace to be restored ? How 
was the breach to be healed ? Not by anything 
that man could do ; not by any plea for pardon that 
he could put forth. Left to himself man must 

1 Gen. iii. 8. 



ANGELS PRAISING. 



61 



perish. But, in man's extremity, God came to the 
rescue. He yearned over His sinning children, 
and longed to receive them back to His arms, 
reinstate them in His family, and restore them to 
His favour. But how was this to be done ? How 
could peace be restored between God and man on 
such terms as should maintain His character as a 
God of truth and justice? There was only one 
way of restoring peace. God must send His own 
Son from heaven to earth ; His glory veiled in 
human guise; "made of a woman, made under 
the law;" to obey where we had failed; to suffer 
what we had deserved ; and so as our substitute 
to discharge our debt, and die that w r e might live. 
On these terms alone could we be saved : only 
through a cross where " mercy and truth met to- 
gether, and righteousness and peace kissed each 
other." God did not spare His own Son, but de- 
livered Him up for us all. At no less a cost war; 
our peace purchased than what the apostle calls 
"the blood of God." In what gracious words ii 
the announcement made, that peace has been given 
back to the world ! " It pleased the Father that in 



62 



ANGELS PRAISING. 



Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace 
through the blood of His cross, by Him to recon- 
cile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether 
they be things in earth, or things in heaven." 1 And 
now, having purchased our peace at so great a price, 
God, with an infinite loving-kindness and condescen- 
sion, beseeches us to put aside our enmity, and to 
be reconciled : " Now then we are ambassadors for 
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we 
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to 
God." 2 

Thus the peace has been made ; made at the great 
cost and incalculable price of the agony and bloody 
sweat, the cross and passion, death and burial of the 
Son of God. Shall we not gladly accept it ; and on 
the free, and frank, and liberal terms of the gospel, — 
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved?" "Justified by faith we have peace with 
God for not only are we restored to a state of 
friendship with God, but the sense of reconciliation 
fills the whole soul with a " peace which passeth all 
understanding." "The God of hope fill you with 
1 Col. i. 19, 20. 2 2 Cor. v. 20. 



ANGELS PRAISING. 63 

all joy and peace in believing," 1 is the apostle's 
prayer for his converts. " Peace I leave with you, 
my peace I give unto you," 2 was the last legacy of 
Christ to His church ; and where faith is strong, this 
peace does " flow like a river " through the believers 
heart What a prayer is that of Paul for the Thessa- 
lonian church: "Now the Lord of peace Himself 
give you peace always by all means." 3 "Always;" 
every day; every hour of the day; every moment 
of every hour. u By all means;" by sorrow as well 
as by gladness ; by care as well as by joy ; by,crosses 
as well as by gains ; by disappointments as well as 
by hopes fulfilled. And truly "in all times of our 
tribulation," as well as "in all times of our wealth," 
in life and in death, shall we enjoy unclouded peace, 
if we but realize the truth that "all things work 
together for good to them that love God, to them 
who are the called according to His purpose." 4 

Peace ! There is music in the word. " Peace on 
earth!" It is a promise full of beauty; but has 
it been fulfilled ? Is not the history of the world 

1 Rom. xv. 13. 2 John xiv. 27. 

3 2 Thess. iii. 16. 4 Rom. viii. 28. 



64 ANGELS PRAISING. 

written in blood and tears ? Is there not on all sides 
mourning and lamentation and woe ? Is not this 
globe distracted by wars and rumours of wars, that 
are bred in the wild passions and unsanctified lusts 
and ambitions of men? Does not "the whole crea- 
tion groan and travail in pain together until now ? 99 
Do you look to the church of Christ for peace ? 
Alas ! you will not find it there. The church is 
like " a house divided against itself ; " full of the 
din of controversy and strife ; torn asunder by 
factious divisions and unseemly contentions. In 
vain you look around for peace: it is nowhere. 

And is this always to be the case ? Blessed be 
God, no. Better days are coming : brighter times 
are at hand. We have a sure word of prophecy 
which unfolds to us the future, and tells us that 
under the rule of the Prince of Peace, who shall 
be crowned as King of kings and Lord of lords, 
"the creation shall be delivered from the bondage 
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the chil- 
dren of God ; " swords shall be beaten into plough- 
shares, spears into pruning-hooks ; and every man 
shall sit under his own vine and fig-tree, no one 



ANGELS PRAISING. 



65 



making him afraid : " for the earth shall be filled 
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as 
the waters cover the sea." 1 

" Oh, scenes surpassing fable, and yet true, 

Scenes of accomplished bliss ! which who can see 
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy? 
One song employs all nations ; and all cry 
' Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us ! ' 
The dwellers in the vales and in the rocks 
Shout to each other ; and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy, — 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round." 

The vision tarries, but come it shall. All things 
are hastening forward to the happy time when the 
angels' song shall be echoed in every land ; and from 
a restored and regenerated earth shall rise the anthem 
to heaven : " Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
peace, goodwill toward men." 

(3.) Goodwill toward men} The Incarnation 

1 Hab. ii. 14. 

2 The accuracy of this translation has been questioned. Many 
would read, with the Vulgate, ' ' Peace on earth to men of good-will." 
The rendering of our Authorised Version is, however, retained as 
being probably correct. 



66 



ANGELS PRAISING. 



was the expression of the " goodwill of God toward 
men." The "goodwill" existed in the Divine bosom 
long before, but now it took visible shape, and ap- 
peared amongst men. But the goodwill itself dates 
from eternity. It was "according to the eternal 
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our 
Lord " that God, in the greatness of a love which 
passeth knowledge, " gave His only-begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." It was "according to the good 
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His 
grace," wherein He hath made us " accepted in the 
Beloved," that " He predestinated His people unto 
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself." 
Christ was the gift of the Divine love, the expression 
of the Father's willingness " that all men should be 
saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." 

That God's will toward men was " good-will," was 
proved from the very hour of the fall by the promise 
made to our first parents of a Redeemer to come, — 
by the choice of a chosen nation from whom should 
spring the seed in whom all the families of the earth 
should be blessed, — by the types and prophecies 



ANGELS PRAISING. 67 

through which He sustained the hopes of His people ; 
and by His long-suffering, patience, and forbearance 
with the sinning children of men. It was seen also 
in the manifold gifts of Providence ; in the rain and 
sunshine from heaven ; in fruitful seasons, filling the 
heart with joy and gladness ; in the regular return of 
seed-time and harvest, summer and winter. In all 
these mercies we have unmistakeable proofs that the 
will of our heavenly Father towards man was "good- 
will but that which put the crown upon all, — which 
gave them their meaning and significance, was the 
Incarnation of the Son of God. No wonder, then, 
when the Highest bowed the heavens, and came 
down to the manger at Bethlehem ; when He, who 
" clothes Himself with light as with a garment,'' 
clothed Himself in human form ; when He that 
dwelt in the Fathers bosom stooped to tabernacle 
with men, and such an expression was given to the 
Divine love as surpassed all former manifestations of 
this attribute ; no wonder that the voices of angels 
should be heard singing in the skies, and that their 
song should be this : " Glory to God in the highest, 
on earth peace, goodwill toward men." 



68 



ANGELS PRAISING. 



What is the conclusion of the whole matter? If 
redemption employed angels' songs, shall it not be 
the subject of higher strains and loftier raptures on 
the part of us men ? " He took not on Him the 
nature of angels ; but He took on Him the seed of 
Abraham." 1 " Unto us," not unto angels, was 
"born in the city of David a Saviour, which is 
Christ the Lord." How ought we to sing ! — we 
who have been redeemed ; we whose humanity is 
the robe that the Eternal Son wears in heaven ; 
we who through grace may become " partakers of 
the Divine nature," " heirs of God, and joint-heirs 
with Christ!" If we believe these "glad tidings 
of great joy," our hearts will be fired with love, 
and we shall go on our way rejoicing, our lips 
thrilling with the grand old song : 

" Sing, O ye heavens ; for the Lord hath done it : 
Shout, ye lower parts of the earth : 
Break forth into singing, ye mountains, 
O forest, and every tree therein : 
For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, 
And glorified Himself in Israel." 2 



1 Heb. ii. 16. 



2 Isa. xliv. 23. 



ANGELS PRAISING. 69 

Let " the heavens sing," for there the saints, crowned 
and throned with Christ, shall live for ever in His 
love ; and ten thousand times ten thousand voices 
shall proclaim, in tones of ceaseless adoration : 
" Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
honour, and glory, and blessing." Let the earth 
also break forth into singing ; for it has been re- 
deemed, — and hereafter, delivered from the curse of 
briars and thorns, it shall be visited with an im- 
perishable spring ; and, when purified by judgment 
fires, shall become the seat of the Saviour's kingdom 
and the Church's triumph. Then 

" Praise the Lord from the earth, — ye dragons, and all deeps : 
Fire and hail ; snow and vapours ; 
Stormy wind fulfilling His word : 
Mountains, and all hills ; 
Fruitful trees, and all cedars : 
Beasts, and all cattle ; 
Creeping things, and flying fowl. " 1 

And let the saints praise Him : 

" Let the saints be joyful in glory : 
Let them sing aloud upon their beds;" 1 



Psa. cxlviii. 7-10. 



2 Psa. cxlix. 5. 



70 ANGELS PRAISING. 

and let them call on others to join in their songs : 

" Praise ye the Lord from the heavens : 
Praise Him in the heights. 
Praise ye Him, all His angels : 
Praise ye Him, all His hosts. 
Praise ye Him, sun and moon : 
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.^ 1 

Thus praising God we shall be in harmony with 
those celestial hosts, who, leaving their station before 
the throne of God, and speeding downwards from 
star to star, hovered over the stable at Bethlehem ; 
and as they anticipated the triumphs which the Divine 
Babe was to win, — man saved ; death destroyed ; the 
devil vanquished, and creation redeemed, gave vent 
to their joy in the jubilant song: "Glory to God 
in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill tow r ard men." 

1 Psa. cxiviii. 1-3. 



V. 



NGELS TVEJOICING. 



" |Cifcetoise, £ sag unto gon, there is jog in the presenee 
of the angels of 600 ober one sinner that repenteih." 

Luke xv. 10. 





HAT a commentary are these words on the 
statement of St. Paul, when he speaks of 
"the eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus." 
" It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness 
dwell ; and, having made peace through the blood of 
His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Him- 
self ; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, 
or things in heaven." 1 

There is harmony established between this planet 
and the upper world. It is no longer a poor wander- 
ing star, cut off by its rebellion from sympathy 
with holy orders of other being; but, reconciled to' 
God, it is reconciled to the " thrones and dominions, 

1 Col. i. 19, 20. 



74 ANGELS REJOICING. 

and principalities and powers in the heavenly 
places." 

There are bonds of sympathy linking it with the 
ranks of bright spirits who move in the light of the 
Divine countenance. A ladder of communication 
reaches from heaven to earth, and all its steps are 
aglow with the splendour of angel forms speeding up 
and down in their ceaseless ministry of grace. There 
are "ninety and nine " worlds which rejoice over the 
recovery of the one that went astray. They feel the 
deepest interest in redemption ; and when a sinner 
leaves the far country, and returns to his Father's 
house ; when, wearied of the husks of the world, he 
longs for the bread from his Father's table ; then 
ministering angels rejoice as those who have found 
great spoil. It is the Saviour who tells us this. He 
who knows the cause of all their gladness, and the 
keynote of their songs, says, " There is joy in the 
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that 
repenteth." 

Let us examine into the reason, of this joy. Why 
should angels rejoice over the repentance of a 
sinner ? 



ANGELS REJOICING. 75 

Three answers may be given. Because the re- 
pentance of a sinner brings glory to God. Because 
by adding another member to the church of Christ, 
it so far completes the number of the elect. Because 
it secures the salvation of the penitent. 

(i.) The repentance of a sinner brings glory to God. 
There is nothing so dishonouring to God as sin. It 
strikes at all His attributes ; it is rebellion against 
His authority, disobedience to His law, rejection of 
His love. Sin insults the majesty of God ; defies 
His power ; challenges His anger ; braves His wrath ; 
and despises His grace. It is the abominable thing 
which God hates ; which cannot enter into His pre- 
sence ; and which is opposed to all the perfections of 
His infinitely holy character. Angels know this ; 
they see it in all its dreadful antagonism to Him who 
" is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and who 
cannot look upon sin." Their love to God is per- 
fect ; their loyalty to God is pure ; and they adore 
supremely that gracious Being who, when some of 
their number fell away, secured them in their first, 
high, and glorious estate. What, then, must they feel 

when they see the laws of the God whom they love 

F 



y6 ANGELS REJOICING. 

trampled on, disregarded, made light of? Can it be 
without emotions of the most lively sorrow that they 
behold His authority despised, His threatenings 
defied, and His promises treated with contempt ? 
How exceeding sinful must sin appear to those 
who wait with faces veiled before His awful purity, 
ever crying, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, 
who was, and is, and is to come !" 

And if sin be thus dishonouring to God, it neces- 
sarily follows that repentance (which is in its essence 
a change of mind) brings glory to God by the humble 
confession of sin, and a forsaking of all that is evil. 
Angels, therefore, rejoice when they see God ho- 
noured, and repenting sinners flocking to His footstool 
to bewail their past sins, mourn over a mis-spent life, 
and to surrender themselves, body, soul, and spirit, to 
His service for the future. And not only so, but in 
these subdued rebels they see a token of the Divine 
power ; for it is His grace that turns the heart of 
stone into a heart of flesh ; converts enmity into 
friendship ; and breathes the breath of life into the 
dead soul. It is God who " makes a people willing 
in the day of His power ; " causing such a revolution 



ANGELS REJOICING. 77 

in the heart that "old things pass away, and all 
things become new." It is Christ who, entering into 
the heart, drives out. the strong man armed, and 
takes possession Himself, and establishes there that 
kingdom which is " righteousness, peace, and joy in 
the Holy Ghost." And if this be the case, — if man, 
when he is converted, abandons sin, loathing what he 
loved, and loving what he loathed, and surrenders 
himself, body, soul, and spirit, to God ; if the penitent 
sinner is " translated from the kingdom of darkness 
into the kingdom of God's dear Son ;" if he throws 
off the yoke of evil, in order to wear the yoke of 
Christ ; and if he is a manifest proof of the power of 
God unto salvation, — then we see why "there is joy 
in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
that repenteth." 

(2.) Through the conversion of a sinner another 
member is added to the church of Christ, and the 
number of the elect is so mitch the nearer to its com- 
pletion. Angels, who sang at the birth of Jesus the 
jubilant anthem : " Glory to God in the highest, on 
earth peace, goodwill toward men ;" who waited 
a upon the Saviour through the whole course of His 



78 ANGELS REJOICING. 

earthly life, and ministered to Him in His agony, 
must rejoice as often as He sees of " the travail of 
His soul " in the repentance of the sinful. Angels 
must be gladdened by any fresh proof that Christ 
has not died in vain. It must add immeasurably to 
their joy when they know that His cross and passion 
have not been endured without result, and that they 
have their promised recompense in the rescue of one 
sinner after another from "the wrath to come." Every 
fresh conversion is a new proof of the defeat of Satan, 
that prince of hell, who is the enemy of God and 
man ; is an earnest, too, that the time is approaching 
when all the works of the devil shall be destroyed, 
and the wicked One shall be cast, bound and chained, 
into the lake of fire. Every fresh soul delivered from 
the bondage of " the god of this world," and added to 
the fold of Christ, is one more step towards the 
accomplishment of the number of the Lord's elect, 
and brings us nearer to that time when the Church 
shall be perfected, and a loud voice shall be heard 
saying in heaven, " Now is come salvation, and 
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power 



ANGELS REJOICING. 79 

of His Christ/' 1 and the mystery of redemption shall 
be fulfilled. 

The church of Christ is compared in Scripture to 
a spiritual house, and individual Christians to "lively 
stones " builded up together on the foundation, which 
is said to be the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So that 
in every trembling convert angels see a new stone 
added to the building, and therefore so much more 
done towards the final completion of that glorious 
temple, whose elements, gathered from all regions 
of the earth, shall rise up in noble and lofty pro- 
portions to fill the whole world with its beauty ; and 
from whose shrines, filled with the indwelling Spirit 
of God, shall ever ascend the adoring anthem to Him 
that sitteth on the throne. Why should angels 
rejoice at this ? Because they long for the time 
when the "great multitude" shall be "gathered 
together from the four winds," and be ushered into 
God's eternal heaven. For then shall be the mani- 
festation of the Saviour's glory of which the prophets 
have sung, and which is to form the recompense of 
His untold sufferings in the work of redemption. 

1 Rev. xii. 10. 



80 ANGELS REJOICING. 

Then shall that day break upon the globe which 
has been promised, and long hoped for, when crea- 
tion itself shall be " delivered from the bondage of 
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children 
of God." Then shall the jarring strings be retuned ; 
and throughout the length and breadth of a " new 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness," nothing shall be seen but joy and glad- 
ness, nothing heard but " thanksgiving and the voice 
of melody." Then shall death be swallowed up in 
victory ; the graves shall resign their countless 
population ; and an innumerable company, taken 
out of all countries, brought from all climes, shall 
be made kings and priests unto God, and shall reign 
for ever and ever. This is the restitution of all 
things spoken of by all the holy prophets since 
the world began ; those " times of refreshing " from 
the Lord, which shall descend upon a weary world 
like the dew upon the hill of Hermon, bringing with 
them u righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost;" and introducing the beauty and blessed- 
ness of the millennial day. 

And can you wonder that the nearer prospect of 



ANGELS REJOICING. 8 1 

such an age, when " the knowledge of the glory of 
God " is to " cover the earth as the waters cover the 
sea," should excite in angels emotions of great joy ? 
Can you marvel that songs of gladness should break 
forth anew as every sinner is brought home to the 
fold, and a fresh earnest is thus given that the hour 
is approaching when at the name of Jesus every 
knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things 
in earth ; and things under the earth ; and that 
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 1 Can 
you wonder that the celestial host, seeing in the 
return of every wanderer the closer approach of 
this time, should break out into more lofty expres- 
sions of enraptured adoration, and thus prove that 
" there is joy in the presence of the angels of God 
over one sinner that repenteth?" 

(3.) Let us notice as a third reason for the joy of 
angels — the interest they feel in the salvation of men. 
There is something very touching in the thought, 
that those bright and radiant creatures who move 
in the light of the Divine presence, should bend 

1 Phil. ii. 10, 11. 



82 ANGELS REJOICING. 

from their heavenly seats, and watch for human sal- 
vation " more than they that watch for the morning." 

The Bible records three occasions upon which 
angels rejoiced in connection with this earth of ours. 
When God laid the foundations of the world : when 
He spake, and it was done ; when He commanded, 
and it stood fast, — then "the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
Again : when " the Word was made flesh," they 
filled the skies with their songs. And now we learn 
that when a sinner is " turned from the error of his 
ways," a new wave of delight is added to the ever- 
flowing tide of their bliss. They turn their regards 
from those worlds of light which move in harmony 
and splendour through the vast fields of space ; and 
looking downwards, fix their attention on the things 
that are passing in the earth. Their most anxious 
thoughts are with men. One great object of their 
desires is the salvation of man. They attend con- 
tinually to this very thing. And why should angels 
long for the deliverance of the sinner, and be moved 
with anxiety for his return to God ? Because they 
see clearly in the light of God's countenance the 



ANGELS REJOICING. 83 

beauties of holiness and the hatefulness of sin. 
They know that "there is no peace," and can be 
no peace, " to the wicked." They are aware that sin 
has filled the world with a mourning, and lamenta- 
tion, and woe." They see, by many a sad example, 
and many a terrible illustration, that "the way of 
transgressors is hard." They are taught by the 
havoc worked in the human soul that sin purchases 
pleasure by the loss of all that is noble and good, — 
like the apples of Sodom, — fair to look upon, but 
turning to acrid ashes on the burning lips. And 
because angels see the ruin even now wrought by 
sin ; the unrest and disquiet it causes in the soul ; 
the wretchedness and misery it brings to all who live 
in it ; — because they see this truth clearly — with eyes 
accustomed to heaven's light — they rejoice when 
men, convinced by the Holy Spirit, abandon their 
old ways, and turn to Him who, with love in His 
heart, forgiveness on His lips, and the cup of sal- 
vation in His hand, cries to all, " If any man thirst, 
let him come unto Me and drink." 

And besides all this, angels know the awfulness of 
the future woe which awaits the impenitent. They 



84 ANGELS REJOICING. 

saw of old how God spared not those of their own 
company who sinned, but cast them out of heaven, 
and banished them from His presence. They had 
seen " Lucifer, son of the morning," fall as lightning 
from heaven, — " a wandering star, lost in the black- 
ness of darkness for ever." They may have looked 
into the horrible pit ; they may have scanned the 
black depths of " the second death," where the dying 
never die. They know that the threatenings of God 
are true, and shall be fulfilled to the letter, and that 
a course of wilful impenitence will be followed by 
the utter loss of all hope and happiness for ever. 
Here the longest night brightens into day ; here the 
sharpest pains come to an end ; here sleep brings 
sweet forgetfulness to the sufferer ; but there is no 
morning to the night of anguish ; no oblivion of the 
sorrow that preys upon the heart ; no hope that the 
suffering will eventually cease ; but a despair that 
weeps, and wails, and gnashes its teeth for ever. It 
is a deliverance from such wretchedness as this that 
justifies the joy of angels over a sinner's repent- 
ance. If that repentance did not secure an escape 
from some dreadful doom, I see no adequate reason 



ANGELS REJOICING. 85 

for their rejoicing". If all men alike are to be em- 
braced within the arms of God's mercy at last ; if 
there is no hell from which to be saved, I see no 
reason for the gladness of angels when the lost sheep 
is recovered, and brought back to the fold. Indeed, 
on the supposition that there is no eternity of woe, 
or that salvation is to be universal, our Lord's words, 
assuring us that all heaven is moved to gladness when 
a sinner repents, are simply exaggeration, or a rhe- 
torical flourish. It is only on the ground that there 
is a " worm which dieth not, and a fire that is not 
quenched, ,, that I see a reasonableness in the joy felt 
in the presence of the angels of God, when the 
Father bids the principalities and powers to prepare 
their harps, giving as a motive for the general glad- 
ness : For this my son that was dead is alive again ; 
he that was lost is found. 

And how this joy proves the everlasting safety of 
a penitent soul. It is not to be supposed that the 
joy of angels can ever be turned into grief because of 
the relapse of the restored, or that devils should have 
reason to mock because the songs of holy angels were 
premature. The son rejoiced over as alive will not 



86 ANGELS REJOICING. 

return to his old death of trespasses and sins ; the 
welcomed prodigal will never again leave his father's 
table for the husks in the far-off land. And looking 
at salvation as a perfected deliverance from " ever- 
lasting damnation," and a restoration to everlasting 
life, I not only bless God for giving up His Son to 
save us, but I see the deepest, truest cause for re- 
joicing on the part of the heavenly host ; and to me 
it is of all things the most natural that there should 
be "joy in the presence of the angels of God over one 
sinner that repenteth." 

The subject is full of the richest grace and consola- 
tion. How dear we must be to God, what objects of 
interest to angels, when our repentance ministers so 
deeply to their joy ! Heaven has an increase of 
blessedness from the salvation of a poor lost sinner ! 
Rich as must be its happiness, we can add to it 
by turning from sin, and yielding ourselves to God. 
We may have added to its happiness already ; songs 
may have been sung over us ; harps struck for our 
restoration and recovery ; and heaven filled with 
fresh music because of our return from the far land, 
because we have left the husks and the swine-trough 



ANGELS REJOICING. 87 

for our Father s home, and for bread from His table. 
Thanks be to the God of all mercy if it is so, and if 
we are heaven-born, and heaven-bound. For now 
angels are our " ministering spirits ;" and they shall 
attend us on our path through life, till life is ended ; 
and at death they shall carry us to the mansions of 
heaven, where with them we shall worship and adore 
before the throne, and live in the light of that face 
whose shining constitutes the happiness of the world 
above. 

What an encouragement is this subject for all to 
repent ! My brother, have you ever wished to be 
different from what you are ? Are there wistful 
hours of sorrowful craving ? lookings away from your 
evil habits, and longings for something better ? It 
may be that the voice of God is calling you, the 
sound of your Father's voice speaking to your heart. 
Close not your heart against the Spirit's call. Turn 
from sin and self, from the world and its follies, from 
unrest and disquietude, broken cisterns, withered 
gourds, and perishing idols, unto God, the Fountain 
of living water. If you will now lay hold on eternal 
life, not only will there be rest and peace in your own 



88 ANGELS REJOICING. 

soul, but a fresh delight added to the bliss of heaven ; 
for all the angels there will sing " a loud Amen," in 
celebration of your deliverance from sin and Satan, 
from death and hell : 

" Thus joy abounds in Paradise, 
Among the hosts of heaven, 
Soon as the sinner quits his sins, 
Repents, and is forgiven." 



VI. 



NGELS j NQUIRING. 



SSfchwh things the angels besixe to look *n&." 

i Fkter i. 




„p£.ngcls inquiring. 



m 



HESE words recall to our minds the directions 
God gave to Moses about the construction 
of the mercy-seat. The ark of the covenant 
was a striking symbol of God's gracious presence 
with His people, and typified the blessings connected 
with " the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things 
and sure." The ark contained Aaron's rod that 
budded, the golden pot that had manna, and the 
tables of the covenant. It was made of shittim wood ; 
but the covering, or lid, was of massive gold, and was 
called the mercy-seat. At each end of the mercy- 
seat, and beaten out of the same gold that formed it, 
was carved a winged cherub ; the faces of the 
cherubim turned one to the other, and they were 
placed in such an attitude that each seemed to 



92 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

bend over the ark, as if with an earnest desire to look 
into the mysteries hidden under the massive lid. 

Now that is the very attitude St. Peter ascribes to 
angels in the text, " Which things the angels desire 
to look into," or "to peer into. ,, "Bend over" would 
be the more literal rendering of the Greek ; and this 
expression makes the reference to the cherubim on 
the mercy-seat more emphatic. The apostle leads us 
to think that cherubim and seraphim bend over the 
mysteries of godliness, as in the Jewish tabernacle 
their golden emblems bent over the ark ; and that 
they gaze with intense interest upon the deep things 
of God as manifested in the salvation of the church. 
And since angels are represented as " desiring to look 
into," rather than as "looking into," with distinct 
apprehension, the wonders of the incarnation, and 
the sufferings and death of the only-begotten Son of 
the Father, we are not surprised at the apostle's de- 
claration that they are "taught by the church the 
manifold wisdom of God." Thus have they gathered, 
or added to their knowledge of the Divine perfections 
and attributes from the gradual unfolding of type 
and prophecy, and from the ever-increasing clearness 



ANGELS INQUIRING. 93 

with which God's purpose of mercy and grace was 
revealed as the ages rolled on. 

The whole passage of Scripture in which the text 
is found justifies us in this supposition. Read from 
the tenth verse of the chapter : " Of which salvation 
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, 
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto 
you : searching what, or what manner of time the 
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when 
it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and 
the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was 
revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they 
did minister the things, which are now reported unto 
you by them that have preached the gospel unto you 
with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; which 
things the angels desire to look into." 

Here the apostle tells us that " the sufferings and 
the glory of Christ " are the great subjects of all pro- 
phecy. Into the sufferings and glory of Christ, he 
says, " angels desire to look." This is our present 
subject — " angels desiring to look into the great 
mysteries of redemption." 

In pursuing this theme, consider, in the first in- 



94 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

stance, "the sufferings of Christ" as the object of 
angels' contemplations ; and afterwards " the glory 
that followed " as engaging the earnest attention of 
"the principalities and powers in heavenly places." 

(i.) I may remind you at the outset of our Lord's 
own words to the two disciples with whom He jour- 
neyed to Emmaus after His resurrection, " Ought not 
Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into 
His glory?" In these words the Redeemer calls 
attention to the fact that the Scriptures everywhere 
bear testimony to a suffering Messiah, — that the 
Law, and the Psalms, and the Prophets alike speak 
in the clearest manner of a Saviour who should 
" put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." But 
beyond this, and through the witness of Scripture, 
He directs their thoughts to the great truth that 
the recovery of our lost race by means of sacrifice 
was part of an everlasting purpose ; that the atone- 
ment was the one harmonizing element of God's 
moral government in the salvation of sinners, — the 
great central fact in the Divine administration, where 
alone all the perfections of His holy nature could 
olend and meet. 



ANGELS INQUIRING. 95 

The great problem of redemption was the salvation 
of the sinner in harmony with the majesty of violated 
law. This was part of the mystery hidden for ages in 
the Eternal Mind, and angels desired to look into 
" the sufferings of Christ," in relation to their bearing 
upon the legislative authority of God. They knew 
the law to be "holy, just, and good." It was the 
expressed mind of God ; and, like Himself, could 
neither alter, nor relent, nor permit any abatement of 
its claims. To suppose that it could change, and 
that its standard could be lowered, would be to cast 
reproach upon the wisdom of its Author. For any 
law whose penalties are unconditionally remitted, is 
thereby confessed by the lawgiver to have been need- 
lessly or unjustly rigorous at first. The mere abro- 
gation of a solemnly declared enactment would imply 
the humbling confession that there had been some- 
thing in the moral circumstances and liabilities of 
mankind which the Almighty had at first overlooked ; 
and that, being afterwards convinced of the impossi- 
bility of the service which He had required of His 
creatures, He had seen fit to relieve them from the 
obligation of perfect obedience, and to accept their 



g6 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

repentance instead. To angelic intelligences the glory 
of the law was perfect, the wisdom of the Lawgiver in 
framing it unquestioned. That which they bent all 
the might of their intellect to discover was this : how 
could the holy, and just, and unchangeable God save 
the sinner, and at the same time " magnify the law, 
and make it honourable ? " The love that longed to 
flow forth to the transgressor must act in unison with 
all the other perfections of the Godhead. How, then, 
was the sinner to be saved ? There was the mystery. 

The doctrine of a Divine and Incarnate Sacrifice 
is the only one which can vindicate the authority of 
a heavenly legislation. Christ must die, or the law 
must be dishonoured. God must not spare His Son 
if He would preserve His truth. Let sin go un- 
punished, either in the person of the sinner, or his 
substitute, and the Creator's honour would be tar- 
nished. Less than " Christ crucified " would have 
been insufficient for the salvation of man. Christ 
suffering in our stead, made sin for us, and bearing 
our curse, — this magnifies the attributes of God, and 
meets the necessities of man. The cross is not only 
the deepest expression of the Father s love, but the 



ANGELS INQUIRING. 97 

fullest vindication of Divine justice. Here was the 
meeting-place of God's perfections. Here " mercy 
and truth met together : righteousness and peace 
kissed each other." When we remember that the 
honour of the moral law was bound up with the 
sacrifice of Calvary ; that the salvation t of the cross 
presents God in the lustre of untarnished holiness, so 
that in Jesus He can be "just, and yet the justifier of 
the ungodly we shall in some degree understand 
the deep interest taken by the heavenly hosts in the 
obedience unto death of the Incarnate Word ; and 
how, when the apostle speaks of " the sufferings of 
Christ," he may well add, " which things the angels 
desire to look into." 

(2.) "Angels desire to look into " " the sufferings 
of Christ," to see wheiher the costly agency by which 
it was wrought out was indeed needful. Might it not 
have been purchased at a cheaper price ? Was there 
not something prodigal in the means, — something 
extravagant in the effort by which it was secured ? 
The. more they examined this question, the better 
they would be taught that God acted in redemption 
on the same principle that runs through all the 



98 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

Divine government ; the means He employs being 
accurately adapted to the end He intends to bring 
about ; and so, had salvation been possible in any 
other way than through the anguish and death of 
Jesus, the Father would doubtless have spared His 
only-begotten Son. 

This truth was taught to the angels in the Garden 
of Gethsemane, where they came to minister unto 
the suffering Christ. You remember the prayer that 
went up to heaven from Jesus as He lay prostrate on 
the ground in His bloody sweat, and His "soul was 
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. ,, " Father, if it 
be possible, let this cup pass from Me." God in 
heaven was silent. There was no answer to that 
agonizing supplication. The cup of suffering was not 
removed ; it was wrung out, even to the dregs. What 
does this teach us but that " it behoved Christ thus 
to suffer ;" that there was a deep truth underlying 
the words of scorn addressed to Him as He hung 
upon the accursed tree, — " He saved others ; Himself 
He cannot save ;" and that it was impossible that re- 
demption could be purchased at a less costly price 
than that which the apostle calls " the blood of God." 



ANGELS INQUIRING. 99 

When we speak of the necessity of Christ's suffer- 
ings, you are to bear in mind that this was in no 
degree a physical necessity, or one imposed by the 
sovereign will of God ; it was simply a necessity 
arising out of the nature of the work He had under- 
taken to discharge. His incarnation, His humiliation, 
His death, were perfectly voluntary. " I have power 
to lay down My life, and I have power to take it 
again. ... I lay it down of Myself." 1 Had He so 
pleased, He might have remained for ever in the 
bosom of the Father, encircled by angel hosts, and 
the object of universal adoration. But had He done 
so, what would have been the consequence ? The 
law would have remained dishonoured ; the curse 
against our race unrepealed ; heaven's gate still 
barred against us ; and every child of Adam con- 
demned to everlasting banishment from God. As the 
salvation of the church rested on the death of the 
only-begotten Son, and as the wisdom of God was 
bound up with the means employed, we cannot won- 
der that it is said of " the sufferings of Christ " — 
" which things the angels desire to look into." 

1 John x. 1 8. 



IOO ANGELS INQUIRING. 

(3.) As all Scripture testifies to a suffering Messiah, 
angels would desire to look into the fulfilment of 
type, and the accomplishment of prophecy. It had 
been intimated in no obscure manner from the be- 
ginning, that salvation was to be through the death 
of a substitute. Our Lord alluded to this when 
He reproached the two disciples, " O fools, and 
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have 
spoken ! . . . And beginning at Moses and all the 
prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scrip- 
tures the things concerning Himself. ,, To that 
wonderful exposition angels perhaps listened. They 
would hear His words as He referred to the paschal 
lamb, the smitten rock, the sin - laden scape-goat, 
the serpent of brass, and the blood-sprinkled mercy- 
seat ; nay, to the entire circle of types, ceremonies, 
and sacrifices, which so graphically set forth the 
grand doctrine of the Gospel — that "without shed- 
ding of blood is no remission." They would call 
to mind the ancient prophecies ; how God had in 
the beginning revived the hearts of Adam and his 
wife by the promise wrapt up in the curse upon 
the serpent : " I will put enmity between thee and 



ANGELS INQUIRING. IOI 

the woman, and between thy seed and her seed : it 
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel 
how Isaiah foretold that the Messiah should be " a 
Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ;" that 
He should be "wounded for our transgressions, and 
bruised for our iniquities:" how David spake of the 
vinegar and the gall, the mockery and derision, the 
parting of His garments, the casting lots on His 
vesture : how Daniel declared that the Messiah should 
be cut off, but not for Himself: how Zechariah fore- 
told the price for which He should be betrayed, and 
predicted that the " sword " should " awake " against 
the " Fellow " of Jehovah ; that " the Shepherd " 
should be smitten, and "the sheep be scattered." 1 
As the Saviour directed the attention of the two 
disciples to all these witnesses of holy writ : showing 
how all the lines of prophecy and all the types of the 
law converged in Him as their centre, the listening 
angels would get more insight into the mysteries 
of redemption. But there were fresh discoveries to 
be made, and St. Peter in his day might still affirm i 
"Which things the angels desire to look into." 

1 Gen. iii. 15; Isa. liii. 3; Psa. xxii; Dan. ix. 26; Zech. xiii. 7. 



102 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

(4.) Another subject for angelic investigation, as 
connected with the sufferings of Christ, is this — the 
greatness of the Divine love. They knew that God 
was Love ; for their own creation and happiness 
testified to His goodness. But that God's love 
should be proof against rebellion — this was a new 
revelation of His character. Angels that sinned were 
condemned at once and for ever. But when man 
sinned, this love triumphed over ingratitude, and 
vanquished disobedience. The love of God to man 
— how it must have astonished angels! Christ 
took not on Him their nature, but He took on Him 
the seed of Abraham. Great mystery of love to 
man ! The humiliation, the sorrows, the death of the 
Saviour, are all gathered up into the one word — 
" Love." w Herein is love, not that we loved God, 
but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the 
propitiation for our sins." " Greater love," said Jesus, 
" hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life 
for his friends ! n But we were enemies, ill-doing 
and hell-deserving, guilty and graceless, hateful and 
hating, when " He who was rich, for our sakes be- 

1 I John iv. 10; John xv. 13. 



ANGELS INQUIRING. 103 

came poor, that we through His poverty might be 
rich." Here indeed was " the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height of the love of Christ, which 
passeth knowledge ;" a love seen nowhere else in 
the same unspeakable greatness, and which the 
angels might worthily desire "to look into." 

(5.) Angels also " desire to look into " the glory 
that should follow. Reasonably so ; for there is an 
intimate connection between " the sufferings of Christ 
and the glory" which flowed from His cross. And 
so, after describing His humiliation, the apostle adds, 
" Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and 
given Him a name which is above every name : that 
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
earth ; and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father." 1 

Again, St. Paul says, " Who, for the joy that was 
set before Him endured the cross, despising the 
shame." 2 The glory that was given to Christ after 
His ascension was, as angels know, not conferred on 

1 Phil, ii.9-.1i. 2 Heb. xii. 2. 



104 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

Him in His Divine nature, but in His mediatorial 
character. As God He could not be further exalted ; 
but as " the Man Christ Jesus " He could be raised 
" above all principality, and power, and might, and 
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in 
this world, but also in that which is to come." 1 "We 
see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the 
angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory 
and honour." 2 

Christ is the object of universal worship in heaven. 
On Him all eyes are fixed ; to His praise all harps 
are tuned ; at His feet, once nailed to the cross, 
thousands of glittering crowns are cast, as the pur- 
chase of His blood and the gift of His grace, and 
thousands of voices are loudly proclaiming : " Worthy 
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and 
glory, and blessing!" 

Christ has "all power given unto Him in heaven 
and in earth." He rules the universe ; all events are 
under His control. Angels now see placed in those 
hands that were once pierced with nails, the sceptre 

1 Eph. i. 21. 2 Heb. ii. 9. 



ANGELS INQUIRING. 105 

of universal empire. "The government " is " on His 
shoulder the keys of rule are at His girdle ; He 
" openeth, and no man shutteth ; He shutteth, and 
no man openeth by Him " kings reign, and princes 
decree justice;" "none can stay His hand, or say, 
What doest Thou ?" " He doeth according to His 
will in the armies of heaven, and amongst the inha- 
bitants of earth." 

Again, Christ in glory is " the Head over all things 
to His church." The church is " His body," His 
fulness. It consists of all true believers, of the saints 
of all denominations, of sheep gathered from many 
folds, of members " redeemed out of every kindred, 
and tongue, and people, and nation." As Head of 
His church, Jesus is the source of its life ; this spiri- 
tual life He maintains by continual supplies of grace 
from above. " Our life is hid with Christ in God." 

And Jesus has not only purchased life for His 
people here and hereafter, but has pledged Himself 
that " all things " shall " work together " for their 
good, — joy and sorrow, health and sickness, prosperity 
and adversity, gains and losses. What a precious 
privilege is this ! 



106 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

And what a thought, too, that in "the glory " 
which followed "the sufferings of Christ," His be- 
lieving people are to share. It was that He might 
" bring many sons unto glory," that He was made 
u perfect through suffering." Not for His own sake 
was the cross endured, and the shame despised, and 
the glory won ; but for ours. Speaking to the Father, 
He says, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have 
given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one. 
. . . Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast 
given Me > be with Me where I am ; that they may be- 
hold My glory, which Thou hast given Me : for Thou 
lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." 1 

Angels " desire to look into" the glory, but they 
have no share in it ; He died not on their behalf, 
but on ours. It is we who know " the fellowship 
of His sufferings," that shall know " the power 
of His resurrection." 

Into "the glory" that flows from His sufferings 
angels are " looking " still. For "the eternal purpose 
of God which He purposed in Christ Jesus" is not 
yet completed. " The mystery of redemption is not 

1 John xvii. 22-24. 



ANGELS INQUIRING. 10/ 

yet finished." Angels are watching, as we are, the 
signs of the times, and the fulfilment of prophetic 
announcements, that they may gather something 
about the approach of the season when the Lord 
shall be revealed from heaven to take unto Him- 
self His great power and glory, and to reign as 
"King of kings and Lord of lords." For from 
angels as well as men is hidden the day and the 
hour when the Saviour cometh. So that angels are 
still " looking into the glory " that is to be revealed ; 
perhaps longing with ourselves for the day of the 
manifestation of the sons of God ; when the graves 
shall give up their dead, and death shall be swallowed 
up in victory, and new heavens and a new earth shall 
rise from the ruin of the old ; when shall be " heard 
the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many 
waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, say- 
ing, Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" 

Christian brethren, are we to be partakers in this 
glory ? Has it been purchased for us by the " agony 
and bloody sweat, and cross and passion," of God's 
dear and only Son ? Then I charge you to give to 
your Saviour the first place in your hearts. Place 

H 



108 ANGELS INQUIRING. 

Him on the throne of your affections. Let Him 
reign in your thoughts, your lives, your hearts. 
Love Him best ; serve Him first ; and, leaving 
all, follow Him "through good report and evil 
report ; through honour and dishonour ; through 
life unto death; through death into heaven!" 

Yet a little while, and His glory now hidden shall 
be revealed. " He will come to be glorified in His 
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. ,, 
The grave shall give up its dead. " Every enemy 
shall be put under His feet." Satan shall be bound, 
and cast into the bottomless pit. The wicked shall 
be driven away like chaff from His presence. "Death 
and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire." The 
saints shall inherit the earth ; and the world through- 
out its length and breadth, being turned into the 
seat of Jesus* kingdom, and the witness of His 
glory, the gladdening acclamation of millions, rising 
from every hill, and plain, and mountain, and valley^ 
shall respond to the " great voice heard in heaven," 
saying, "The kingdoms of this world are become 
the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ ; and 
He shall reign for ever and ever." 



VII. 



T 



NGELS AUGHT 



" the intent that ncto nnta the principalities anb 
patoers in heabenlg places might ie knoton the (Ehnrch 
the tnanifoID toisiiom of <Boo." Eph. iii. 10. 





j^Lnqzlz Ipl aught 



ne objection to the Gospel has been based 
upon the insignificance of our world. " It is 
too small/' say some, "for such a vast inter- 
position on the part of God." What is our planet 
amongst all the systems that are scattered over 
infinite space ! Our globe is greatly surpassed in 
size by other planets, and by the sun round which 
it revolves. 

The magnitude of the universe, it is said, is 
opposed to the Gospel story of God's interposition 
for the redemption of our little world. When the 
objector looks upward to the vaulted skies, " clothed 
in the beauty of ten thousand stars," he exclaims, 
with other meaning than that of David : " When I 
consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the 



112 ANGELS TAUGHT. 

moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained ; what 
is man, that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of 
man, that Thou visitest him P" 1 

The objection is a shallow one ; for when we 
remember how mind is greater than matter, and the 
immortal soul grander than the material creation, we 
must acknowledge that man is not too low for that 
manifestation of thought and care which has been 
lavished upon him by God. The mind that can tell 
the stars, and calculate their distances, and discover 
their laws, must be nobler than the stars themselves ; 
and the soul that shall exist when the material 
universe has perished, must be greater than the 
physical creation, subject as it is to change and 
decay. 

" Man/' says Pascal, " is a feeble reed, trembling in 
the midst of creation ; but then he is endowed with 
thought. It does not need the universe to arm for 
his destruction, — a breath of wind, a drop of water, 
will suffice to kill him. But, though the universe 
were to fall on man, and crush him, he would be 
greater in his death than the universe in its victory ; 

1 Psa. viii. 3, 4. 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 1 1 3 

for he would be conscious of his defeat, and it would 
not be conscious of its triumph. The soul of man, 
immortal as it is — gifted with a life which runs on 
parallel with the life of God — must give him a dignity 
and a place in creation not occupied by the most 
brilliant constellation that shines in space." 

Augustine truly remarks, "There is but one object 
in creation greater than the soul, and that one its 
Creator and if so, shall we not believe that the 
wise and loving God will not think it beneath 
Him to visit man when fallen, and make provision 
for his restoration to the place which he lost through 
sin? If it was worthy of God to create man at the 
first, it is surely worthy of God to interfere for his 
redemption. And this the Gospel tells us He has 
done. 

And in this great act of restorative love all heaven 
feels the profoundest interest. It is into the marvel- 
lous way in which God carries out His purpose of 
mercy that "angels desire to look;" it is over the 
repenting sinner that " there is joy in the presence of 
the angels of God." 

The church, elect and redeemed, is represented by 



114 ANGELS TAUGHT. 

St. Paul as being a school for angels : from it " the 
principalities and powers in the heavenly places " 
learn lessons about God which they are taught no- 
where else. How this exalts and elevates in our 
thoughts the grand plan of redeeming love ! When 
angels wish to learn the attributes of God, they turn 
away from creation, its shining suns and lofty moun- 
tains, and meditate on "the sufferings of Christ, and 
the glory that shall follow ; " they look to the 
triumphs that spring from that cross where " mercy 
and truth met together ; righteousness and peace 
kissed each other." This is a truth bound up in the 
remarkable statement of the apostle : " To the intent 
that now unto the principalities and powers in 
heavenly places might be known by the church the 
manifold wisdom of God." 

What meaneth the expression " church " ? " Is 
known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." 
There are two different aspects of what is called the 
church. There is the visible, or professing church, 
embracing all that participate in Christian ordinances, 
and the invisible church, formed of that inner com- 
pany of believers " who worship God in spirit and in 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 115 

truth," and have the true circumcision of the heart. 
"For all are not Israel that are of Israel." The 
church of which the apostle speaks is that "blessed 
company of all faithful people " who have been 
" chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world," 
and who, in the fulness of time, were redeemed by 
the precious blood of the cross ; and who, in God's 
far-seeing purpose of mercy, have been born into the 
world that they might be born again of the Spirit, 
and become heirs of the kingdom of heaven. This 
church is called the body of Christ : " the fulness of 
Him that filleth all in all." It is the complement of 
His mystical person. 

The church is also styled a temple. St. Paul, 
addressing the Corinthian Christians, says : " Ye are 
the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I 
will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be 
their God, and they shall be My people." 1 It is also 
" a spiritual house," built on Christ alone, composed 
of living stones fitly framed together for an habita- 
tion of God through the Spirit, and growing into an 
holy temple in the Lord. All the members of this 

1 2 Cor. vi. 1 6. 



u6 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 



church are really and essentially one. They are 
grafted as living branches into the living and "true 
Vine." They may be scattered among all nations, 
and dispersed among all sections of the visible church, 
but as true believers they are essentially one body in 
Him their Head,— one body with all those blessed 
ones of all generations who have entered into 
rest, and are now reposing in the paradise of 
God. 

This is the church which shall at the second advent 
of the Redeemer be perfected in glory, and "pre- 
sented faultless before the throne with exceeding 
joy." For this is the church of which St. Paul speaks 
in the words : " Christ also loved the church, and 
gave Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
that He might present it to Himself a glorious 
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
thing ; but that it should be holy and without 
blemish." 1 

And this is the church by which — in its redemp- 
tion from sin and restoration to holiness — is " made 

1 Eph. v. 25-27. 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 117 

known unto the principalities and powers in the 
heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God." 

(1.) This statement assures us that the wisdom 
manifested in the work of redemption surpasses 
the wisdom manifested in the works of creation. 
How this assertion magnifies the loving work of 
the cross ! For in creation what proofs there are 
of wisdom and of skill, not only in the brilliant 
skies studded thick with stars, but in this lower 
world, with its varied forms of animate and in- 
animate existence. The wisdom of God is seen, 
not only in its higher, but in its lower works, — 
not only in flaming suns, and wandering comets, 
and rolling planets ; but in the wing of the bird 
that cleaves the air ; the fin of the fish that swims 
through the deep ; the petal of the flower that 
blooms in the field ; and in the light of the glow- 
worm that shines on the bank. Evidences of a 
designing Mind are everywhere, in the humblest, 
as well as in the highest works of God. And yet 
some of those who claim the name of philosopher 
at the present day deny this, and propound theories 
which exclude an ever-ruling Mind from the universe. 



1 18 ANGELS TAUGHT. 

They refer all the wonders of creation to some 
strange theory of evolution. According to them 
there is no personal God. They " discover in mat- 
ter every quality and force of life." And these 
are men living in a Christian land, and amid the 
full blaze of gospel light ! Are they not bringing 
the title of philosopher into contempt, and making 
the name " scientific man " almost synonymous 
with that of the "fool" who "said in his heart, 
There is no God?" A heathen rebukes their folly, 
and puts them to shame. Listen to the words of 
Cicero : " The man who believes this (that the 
world with all its beauty, with all its fittedness 
for man, as well as for animal and vegetable life, 
was made by the chance meeting of atoms), will 
believe that if a countless number of the letters 
of the alphabet — their material being either gold 
or anything else — were thrown as a mass into some 
place, — from these letters shaken out on to the 
ground there can be formed the ' annals* of Ennius 
arranged in such order as to be read continually." 1 
It was well said by one, in answer to an atheist, 

1 Cicero, " De Natura Deorum^ (ii. 37.) 



ANGELS TAUGHT. I 1 9 

who calmly and deliberately wrote down his un- 
belief on paper, that "the very feather with which 
he penned the words, 'There is no God/ refuted 
the audacious lie." Truly creation is filled with 
proofs of the wisdom of God. " The heavens de- 
clare His glory, and the firmament showeth His 
handywork." 

But though this is the case, yet are greater proofs 
to be found of God's wisdom, in the salvation of 
His people, than in the unbounded fields of the 
universe. Angels — when they would search into 
the character of the Godhead — turn away their eyes 
from nature's magnificent temple, and look with 
eager gaze into the mysteries of redemption, whence 
they would gather lessons of the transcendent wisdom 
of Jehovah. That such is the case must be con- 
cluded from the apostle's statement, "That now 
unto the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places might be known by the church the mani- 
fold wisdom of God." 

(2.) Let us examine in what manner the manifold 
wisdom of God is made known by the church, "to 
the principalities and powers in the heavenly places." 



J 20 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 



Whilst we are taught elsewhere that the angels take 
a deep interest in redemption ; from this Scripture 
we learn that their knowledge and happiness are 
increased by the manifestation of the glory of God 
in the salvation of the sinner. It is not " wisdom " 
merely, but "the manifold wisdom of God," that 
is thus made known to them. They knew the 
wisdom of God from other sources. They had 
been created in purity, and holiness, and bliss, to 
live in the light of the Divine throne, and to gather 
in knowledge at the fountain-head. They knew by 
blessed experience the happiness of serving God : 
of " doing His commandments," and "hearkening 
unto the voice of His word." They had learnt a 
lesson of God's holiness in the expulsion of their 
fallen companions from heaven, and the tremendous 
judgments with which the devil and his angels were 
visited, when they rebelled against the Most High. 
They had seen the creation of this planet ; and as 
it rose in beauty under the hand of the Creator, 
these " morning stars sang together," these " sons of 
God shouted for joy." They watched the creation 
of man, so "fearfully and wonderfully made;" they 



♦ 

ANGELS TAUGHT. 121 

saw how the subtle element of life was " breathed 
into his nostrils, . . . and man became a living 
soul." And when Adam and Eve, made after the 
moral image of God, and in His likeness, were 
placed in the garden of the Lord's planting, they 
may have supposed them destined to a long futurity 
of unsullied purity, and blessedness, and joy. And 
then came the fall of man, carrying desolation into 
Eden. The guilty pair stood trembling before their 
Maker ; nor was there an angel in heaven who may 
not have expected to see the same vengeance over- 
take the transgressors that had punished the sinful 
members of their own celestial body. But such was 
not the design of Jehovah. "According to the 
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus 
our Lord," He resolved to save an election ac- 
cording to grace; and in bringing many sons unto 
glory, to make known His whole character, and to 
give expression to the depths of love, and holiness, 
and wisdom, and justice, and power, that as yet lay 
concealed in His character. And mercy to the 
guilty was now for the first time to be revealed 
as a perfection of the blessed God. 



122 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 



So even in the hour when man fell, and the world 
was lost, and Satan triumphed, God cheered the 
hearts of our first parents by the promise of the 
woman's seed, who should bruise the serpent's head, 
and " destroy" both " death, and him that had the 
power of death, that is, the devil." The Divine 
purpose was unfolded as the years rolled on ; type 
and sacrifice prefigured the great Deliverer ; pro- 
mise and prophecy spoke of Him ; and angels w T ere 
often sent to the earth on errands of pity and love. 
Still the mystery of redemption was hidden from 
ages and generations ; and as prophets " testified 
beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory 
that should follow," angels "desired to look into" 
these things, and to understand the yet unrevealed 
wonders of salvation. 

At last " the fulness of time " arrived ; and 
Jehovah, the Second Person of the ever-blessed 
Trinity, took man's nature unto Himself, and was 
born of a pure virgin. Then, on this morning of 
joy, when the Godhead was enshrined in flesh, 
angels hovering with wings of light over the cradle 
in Bethlehem, made the heavens ring with their 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 1 23 

hymn of praise. "The mystery, hid for ages" in 
the Eternal Mind, and of which only dim and 
shadowy notices had been vouchsafed, was now 
suddenly made clear. "The wisdom" — "the mani- 
fold wisdom of God " — now shone forth more pre- 
eminently than it had ever done before. For 
through the obedience and sufferings of Christ 
Jesus, harmony was established amongst the ap- 
parently conflicting attributes of Jehovah ; and on 
the cross, where Jesus made satisfaction for sin, 
" mercy and truth met together ; righteousness and 
peace kissed each other." Thus redemption glori- 
fies all the Divine perfections, satisfies the justice 
of God, exalts His holiness, preserves His truth, 
illustrates His mercy, and magnifies His love. 
No wonder that Christ is called by the apostle 
"the wisdom of God," — seeing that His atoning 
work shed a lustre over all the perfections of God, 
whilst it met all the necessities of man. 

The mystery of salvation is now solved, and an 
answer 'given to the all-important question : " How 
shall man be just with God?" Is not "manifold 
wisdom" pre-eminently shown in devising a plan 

I 



124 ANGELS TAUGHT. 

which made the sinners salvation consistent with 
God's honour; which exalted no one attribute of 
the high and holy One at the expense of another ; 
nor made Him unjust in order that He might be 
merciful : a plan through which He appears to the 
eyes of the whole intelligent universe, "just, and 
yet the justifier of all who believe in Jesus?" 

And if it be in Christ crucified that angels acquaint 
themselves with God ; if it be not in sun or stars, 
but in the blood-stained cross of Calvary, and its 
results, that the varied attributes of Deity blend and 
shine, — then can we understand the apostle's state- 
ment, u that now unto the principalities and powers 
in the heavenly places might be known by the 
church the manifold wisdom of God." 

(3.) There are various other aspects under which 
" the manifold wisdom of God " is displayed through 
the church. It is seen, not only in the work of 
the Redeemer, but in His person, in which were com- 
bined two natures — the human to suffer, the Divine 
to satisfy — a " Daysman," such as the patriarch de- 
sired : God's Fellow, and man's Friend, able to Jay 
His hand on both, and to reconcile the estranged. 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 1 25 

This " manifold wisdom " is also seen in the opera- 
tions of the Holy Ghost, who renews man in the spirit 
of his mind ; makes him a new creature ; turns the 
heart of stone into a heart of flesh ; creates life under 
the ribs of death, and translates him from the bondage 
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children 
of God. 

This u wisdom " is also seen in the preservation of 
the church, and in bringing every saint to glory. No 
easy task this, when we consider the sins to be for- 
given, the temptations to be vanquished, the diffi- 
culties to be overcome, and the enemies from within 
and from without that oppose our entrance into 
heaven. But God is sufficient for the work He has 
undertaken. His eternal purpose which He has pur- 
posed in Christ Jesus cannot be baffled or defeated ; 
nothing can loosen one link of that golden chain 
which binds the believer to His throne : neither man 
nor devil can break one. "Whom He did predesti- 
nate, them He also called : and whom He called, 
them He also justified ; and whom He justified, them 
He also glorified." Thus the church is safe in Christ ; 
the living stones cannot be detached from the founda- 



126 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 



tion ; they are all " growing up into a holy temple in 
the Lord and the time is approaching when " the 
head-stone thereof shall be brought forth, with shout- 
ings of Grace, grace unto it and the spiritual temple 
shall stand forth, the greatest wonder of the universe, 
and the brightest glory of God. And then, when the 
mystery of redemption shall be accomplished, and 
the great voice heard in heaven, saying, "Now is 
come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our 
God, and the power of His Christ ;" and the bride, 
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, wedded in 
eternal espousals to the Lamb, sits down with her 
Beloved at the marriage banquet ; and when " the 
voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many 
waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings," 
celebrate the glad event, then still from the church 
in her glory shall angels learn further lessons in the 
Divine ways ; and throughout the ages it will be true 
that " unto the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places shall be known by the church the manifold 
wisdom of God." 

An important thought arises from the whole sub- 
ject, — the unspeakable greatness of salvation. How 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 12/ 

shall we measure the value of salvation ? how declare 
its priceless worth ? To angels it stands amongst 
the other wonders of God alone, without a parallel. 
It is the subject of their meditation, the object of 
their inquiries. This is the theme of their praises in 
heaven, — their song in the courts above is, " Salvation 
to God that sitteth on the throne, and unto the 
Lamb." The Lamb slain is the object of their adora- 
tion, for they see in Him the Divine righteousness 
vindicated, the Divine mercy exalted, the law of 
God honoured, and the love of God having the freest 
exercise, the fullest scope. 

If redemption has so great an interest for angels, 
who do not personally share in its blessings, what 
shall be our condemnation if our hearts are cold to 
the theme, or if we are indifferent to Him who pur- 
chased salvation with His blood ? " How shall we 
escape if we neglect so great salvation ?" We cannot 
escape, we do not deserve to escape. Hell, with all 
its untold wretchedness, is not a punishment too great 
for those who reject a Saviour's love, and "crucify 
Christ afresh, putting Him to an open shame." 

May this not be the experience of any one of my 



128 



ANGELS TAUGHT. 



readers. Give yourselves, I pray you, heart and soul, 
to the Lord. Vie with angels in their love ; emulate 
their interest in " the manifold wisdom of God." 
Surpass them in praises of " the unsearchable riches 
of Christ." Living to His honour now on earth, you 
shall hereafter come " to an innumerable company of 
angels," and with them sing the new song : u Worthy 
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 
riches, and strength, and honour, and glory, and 
blessing ! " Amen and Amen ! 



VIII. 

NGELS yVLlNISTERING. 



" Jlrr then, not all ministering spirits, sent forth 
minister for them ioho shall be heirs of saltation?" 

Heb. i. ii 





HE apostle draws a striking contrast between 
Christ and angels. He is the Son ; they are 
servants. He is seated on the throne ; they 
wait before His footstool. He is the Creator; they 
are creatures. He is the Sender ; they the sent. 
He formed them for His use: He made them for His 
pleasure. " For by Him were all things created that 
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and in- 
visible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or 
principalities or powers : all things were created by 
Him and for Him ; and He is before all things, and 
by Him all things consist. ,, He is exalted to a 
measureless height above them, and is " seated at 
God's own right hand far above all principality, and 
power, and might, and dominion, and every name 



132 ANGELS MINISTERING. 

that is named, not only in this world, but also in that 
which is to come." To which of the angels did God 
say at any time, "Sit on My right hand, until I 
make thine enemies thy footstool?" They all bow 
down to worship Him. They veil their faces be- 
fore His dazzling lustre, as they cry, " Holy, holy, 
holy, is the Lord God of hosts : the whole earth is 
full of Thy glory." 

It was in this attitude of prostrate adoration 
that Isaiah beheld the shining seraphim, when he 
saw Christ's glory, and spake of Him. They not 
only worship Him, but they are "flames of fire" in 
His service; they not only wait upon the Saviour, 
but they attend upon the saved. u Are they not all 
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them 
who shall be heirs of salvation?" 

In what does their ministration consist ? What 
help do they afford us, and how do they afford it ? 

We know how they befriended the saints of ancient 
times. In the Old Testament we see them, ministering 
to the faithful, — meeting them in the fields; going 
into their houses ; now flashing upon them suddenly 
as a beam of light, and again as suddenly withdrawn. 



ANGELS MINISTERING. I33 

They talk to Abraham under the shadow of the tent- 
door ; they hasten Lot out of Sodom ; they pass up 
and down the bright ladder which Jacob sees in his 
vision ; they meet Gideon on the threshing-floor, and, 
banishing despair from his heart, assure him of vic- 
tory; they bring food to Elijah when he flies from 
the face of Jezebel ; and an angel descends on swift 
wings from heaven, in answer to Daniel's prayer, to 
reveal to him the purposes of God. 

In the New Testament they are seen again and 
again, and minister to Christ and His disciples. They 
appear at the Saviour's birth, and fill the night with 
songs of joy. All through His life they wait upon 
Him, — in His temptation, comforting ; in His agony, 
strengthening His tried and fainting soul. At His 
resurrection an angel descends from heaven to roll 
away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ; and 
when Mary Magdalene comes to seek the living 
among the dead, she finds two of these loving 
ministers "sitting, the one at the head, and the 
other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had 
lain." 1 

1 John xx. 12, 



134 ANGELS MINISTERING. 

Apostles, too, have their attendant spirits, who 
help them in their hour of need. They open prison 
doors, and bid them go forth and preach the words oi 
life ; they smite the chaias from their limbs, and lead 
them out to liberty. When St. Paul was shipwrecked 
on his voyage to Rome, and he and all the ship's 
company were on the very brink of a watery grave, 
the angel of the Lord stands by him, and cheers 
his heart with the glad assurance, " Fear not, Paul ; 
thou must be brought before Caesar : and, lo, God 
hath given thee all them that sail with thee." 1 

And have we any reason to believe that this 
angelic ministry continues until this day ? Most 
assuredly we have. Though we see them not, though 
we hear them not, though we cannot sensibly realize 
their presence, yet are we privileged to believe that 
angels still encamp round about the righteous ; still 
" bear them up in their hands, lest at any time they 
dash their foot against a stone. ,, " Take heed/' says 
Christ, "that ye despise not one of these little ones ; 
for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do 
always behold the face of My Father which is in 

1 Acts xxvii. 24. 



ANGELS MINISTERING. 1 35 

heaven." 1 I believe that angelic ministration is as 
real a thing to us as it was to the saints of old, even 
though it be less a matter of sight and more a mattei 
of faith. 

The church in the olden time was in a state of 
childhood, and was dealt with as we deal with our 
children. It was taught by pictures, and signs, and 
wonders ; it was impressed through the senses ; it 
needed to be instructed through the eye and the ear : 
through visible objects and audible sounds. But we, 
under the Gospel economy, have reached a higher 
state, — we are now in our manhood, and as men have 
"put away childish things." 4< We walk by faith, not 
by sight." We have passed into a dispensation of 
spiritual truth and spiritual power. No miracles are 
wrought before our eyes ; no men, moved by the 
Holy Ghost, announce Divine revelations in our ears ; 
no visible Christ invites us to lay down our heads on 
His breast. To us belongs the promise, " Blessed are 
they who have not seen, and yet have believed." 
And just as in the Saviour we have One always near, 
although unseen, so in angels we have guardian 

1 Matt, xviii. 10. 



136 ANGELS MINISTERING. 

attendants, though not perceived ; for they are " all 
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them 
who shall be heirs of salvation." 

In what manner do they " minister to the heirs of 
salvation? 0 Not much is revealed to us on this 
point, — nothing very definite is made known. Still 
do we find that, though they come to us no longer in 
visible shape, — with faces bright with love, and voices 
rich with heaven's music, — though they no longer 
enter our houses, or meet us on our way, yet do they 
help us as really and as actually as they did God's 
people in olden time. While we are struggling in 
Christ's name against sin, and relying on His help to 
overcome, we are surrounded by invisible forms who 
watch us with interest, and who are near in our times 
of peril, of weakness, and of doubt, to shield us from 
danger, and to strengthen and support. When we 
are weary, they cast around us some of the brightness 
of heaven ; when we are in trouble, they may per- 
chance recall to the mind some comfortable passage 
of the word of God ; thus lightening and cheering the 
thoughts of the inner man by refreshing and invigo- 
rating the very springs of the hidden life. Was it 



ANGELS MINISTERING. 137 

not thus that angels gladdened the hearts of the 
sorrowing women at the sepulchre ? — " Why seek ye 
the living among the dead ? He is not here, but 
is risen ; remember how He spake unto you when 
He was yet in Galilee." 

And may not they be our remembrancers too ? In 
some hour of temptation or trial, may it not be they 
who bring to the mind a verse of Scripture suited to 
our circumstances, and fitted to our need ? Some- 
times when we are in doubt and difficulty, perplexed 
or bewildered, there will flash upon the mind an 
appropriate promise, which at once carries with it 
peace and gladness. To what is this sudden recur- 
rence of the " word in season " due ? To the agency, 
perhaps, of those " ministering spirits " who wait on 
the " heirs of salvation." Is this fanciful ? I think 
not. Do not evil angels suggest base and defiling 
thoughts ? Are not those invasions of the soul by 
what is blasphemous and impure called in Scripture 
" fiery darts of the wicked one ?" Is it not expressly 
said of the devil that he is " the spirit that worketh in 
the children of disobedience ?" 

If wicked spirits have such power over the thoughts 



I 3 S ANGELS MINISTERING. 

for evil, why should we question that good angels may 
have as great influence over us for good, or that they 
call up suggestions and remembrances that are 
heavenly and pure ? " I doubt not," says the saintly 
Rutherford, " but good angels suggest good counsels, 
tender holy motives, offer pious thoughts ; yea, refresh 
the. often-parched spirits of gracious men with in- 
ward joy." 

I would not in the least infringe upon the truth 
that the Spirit of God is the Being who infuses into 
us the principle of Divine life, and that He only is 
able to subdue our wills, to penetrate the deepest 
secrets of our hearts, and to purify and cleanse the 
soul. But does it infringe in any degree on the office 
of the Holy Ghost to suppose that good angels may, 
and often do, as instruments of the Divine goodness, 
powerfully operate on our fancy and imagination, and 
thereby prompt us to such thoughts and actions as 
are pleasing to God ? Though our Lord had " the 
Spirit given to Him without measure;" though "in 
Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;" 
yet was it through angels that strength was imparted 
to Him in the wilderness, and consolation in the 



ANGELS MINISTERING. 1 39 

garden. That we do not see the angels, or hear 
their voices ; that they do not come into our houses, 
or talk to us by the way, is no more an argument 
against their suggesting good counsels and pious 
thoughts, than our not seeing Christ is an argument 
against His intercession, or our not seeing the Spirit 
is an argument against His indwelling. 

But whatever be the difficulty in realizing the 
presence of angels, there is something gladdening in 
the thought that whilst evil spirits try to assault and 
hurt the soul, these heavenly beings, by silent 
whisperings, by flashing sudden suggestions, by stir- 
ring up dormant memories, act as the instruments of 
God's grace, and minister comfort and encouragement 
to the " heirs of salvation." 

So again with the truth of God's ever-watchful 
providence. It is delightful to know that God Him- 
self is "about our path, and about our bed, and 
spieth out all our ways." Nothing can be more 
comforting than the assurance that the Divine 
Being has " numbered the hairs of our head;" that 
"He putteth our tears into His bottle;" that " He 
maketh all our bed in our sickness;" but it does 

K 



140 ANGELS MINISTERING. 

not lessen our consolation to believe that angels 
are His ministers to carry out His intentions of 
love and mercy on our behalf. " Encamping round 
about the righteous," they marshal themselves for 
their protection, and use their vast powers in pro- 
moting their good. Though so lofty in nature, and 
sublime in endowments, they discharge offices on 
our behalf which, as measured against their great- 
ness, appear but trivial and insignificant ; for they 
"hold up the righteous, and keep him in all his 
ways, lest he hurt his foot against a stone." There 
is great comfort in this. These lofty beings, — prin- 
cipalities and powers of the invisible world, — turning 
their thoughts from the rise and fall of empires, 
employ their glorious powers in waiting on the 
heirs of salvation, and in ministering to their good, 
as they walk the world with God. 

It is also a joy to know that they who tend us in 
life will be near us when the " silver cord is " about 
to be "loosed, the golden bowl to be broken," and will 
be ready to receive the disembodied soul, and trans- 
port it from earth to heaven. When Lazarus died, 
he "was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." 



ANGELS MINISTERING. 141 

So it is still. Angels gather round the dying beds 
of believers, waiting until the spirit be set free, that 
they may bear their charge with songs to its Father's 
home. Which of us has not heard of saints who in 
their last moments had visions of angels, — glimpses 
of bright faces, and caught strains of richest music, 
just as heaven was opening its doors to let them in ? 
It has seemed as if some messenger had whispered 
in their ears : " The Master is come, and calleth 
for thee;" for their lips have parted to speak the 
joyful answer : " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." 

It is with dying believers often as it was with 
Christian and Hopeful in the great allegory. "These 
two men were, as it were, in heaven before they came 
to it ; being swallowed up with the sight of angels, 
and with hearing of their melodious notes. Here 
they had also the city in view, and thought they 
heard all the bells therein to ring to welcome them 
thereto." 

We too often think of death as a lonely exit from 
the world : a sudden breaking up of all family ties ; 
a mysterious passage into an unknown country where 
all will be unfamiliar and strange. But, in reality, 

1 



142 ANGELS MINISTERING. 

it is for the heirs of salvation simply a going home ; 
an entrance into the Fathers house; a passing into 
the happy presence of the Elder Brother ; a con- 
scious fellowship with the family above. 

Blessed indeed are they for whom death, having 
lost its sting, is lightened by angel-presences and 
angel- whispers ; who, "falling asleep in Jesus," are 
" carried by angels" to the very bosom of God, 
and who in their own experience can give a practical 
answer to the question : " Are they not all minis- 
tering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who 
shall be heirs of salvation ?" 

Who are they on whose behalf the ministry of 
angels is thus carried on ? 

" Those who shall be heirs of salvation:" of that 
salvation which had its origin in the eternal depths 
of the Divine love, has been wrought out by the 
sufferings and righteousness of the Divine Son, and 
applied by the indwelling power of the Divine 
Spirit. 

Heirs of salvation ! No wonder that angels watch 
over you ; for ye are the children of the Most High, 
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint- 



ANGELS MINISTERING. 143 

heirs with Christ. "If children!" If children, 
we have neither part nor lot in this matter. 

My friends, are you the children of God by faith in 
Christ Jesus? Are you "walking in love, as dear 
children;" rejoicing in the conscious assurance of 
forgiveness, and serving God in "the beauties of 
holiness?" Then see what privileges are yours. 
Whatever be your condition or circumstances, young 
or old, learned or unlearned, rich or poor, prince 
or peasant, — angels are " sent forth to minister 
unto " 3/ou, for you are amongst the " heirs of 
salvation." 

And this ministry is not a ministry of necessity, 
but of sympathy. They delight to watch over the 
fortunes of those whom the Saviour purchased with 
His blood. Angels are watching you with more 
than fraternal love. They have watched over you 
from the beginning. When you first repented of 
your sins, and came with broken and contrite hearts 
to God, they made all heaven ring with songs of 
joy. And now they attend you with royal state ; 
they wait upon your steps; they render you all 
kindly and sympathising service. 



144 ANGELS MINISTERING. 

One caution needs to be given when dealing with 
the subject of angelic ministrations. Let us beware 
of a superstitious perversion and abuse of this doc- 
trine. The Church of Rome puts angels in a false 
position as mediators ; her members being taught 
to invoke their aid, and to rely on their intercession. 
The warning of the apostle comes in here : u Let 
no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary 
humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into 
those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up 
by his fleshly mind." 1 There is but the " One Media- 
tor between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." 

When St. John, in the Apocalypse, fell at the feet 
of the angel to worship him, he shrank from the act 
of adoration — " See thou do it not : I am thy fellow- 
servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony 
of Jesus: worship God." 2 Glorify and praise Him; 
He alone is worthy of our worship. He is the "King 
of kings, and Lord of lords." Angels but form His 
retinue, and are His willing servants, doing His 
commandments, and hearkening to the voice of 
His word. 

1 Col. ii. 1 8. 2 Rev. xix. io. 



ANGELS MINISTERING. 145 

Shall the master worship the servant ? The heirs 
bow down to the attendants ? I trow not. Christ 
has given us a position higher than angels. Those 
v/ho are accounted worthy to attain the world of 
glory, not only equal, but excel in honour the 
highest spirits in heaven. They shall have authority 
over other orders of being. As the Bride of the 
Lamb, they shall have a share in Christ's crown, 
and a seat on Christ's throne, and with Him shall 
reign for ever and ever. 

And as angels are ministering spirits to them in 
their pilgrimage through the world to heaven, so 
angels shall attend them as their messengers when 
heaven has been gained. " Know ye not," asks 
St. Paul of the Christians at Corinth, "that we shall 
judge angels?" and his words may mean nothing 
less than this, — that we shall be invested with 
royalty over the principalities and powers in the 
heavenly places. 

Brethren, beloved in the Lord, such being our 
privilege, such our high calling of God in Christ 
Jesus, what manner of persons ought we to be? 
Surely, as citizens of the heavenly world, we should 



146 ANGELS MINISTERING. 

wear upon our brow the impress of the kingdom 
of God; letting men see that we are the redeemed 
of the Lord ; and proving to angels that we are 
doing on earth that will which they are doing in 
heaven. Speak, think, and act, then, as becometh 
those who are partakers of the Divine nature — for 
whom Christ died, and to whom angels minister. 
Live as the angels of God are living; who, though 
they see what you only believe, and possess what 
you only hope for, yet have never had such a 
manifestation of the Divine goodness as has been 
manifested to you ; and who may well learn from 
man, redeemed by the blood of the cross, the height, 
and depth, and length, and breadth of a love which 
passeth knowledge, and whose greatness would for 
ever have remained unknown, had not Christ died 
on Calvary as an atonement for sin. 

May we, the "heirs of God, and joint heirs with 
Christ," emulate the obedience, the willing service 
of those bright angelic beings, concerning whom 
the apostle inquires: "Are they not all minis- 
tering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who 
shall be heirs of salvation?" 



IX. 




H E R U B I M. 



" cSa §}e orobe out the mm ; anb |3e placet at the east 
of the f.aroeu of <£Den Cherubim, ano a flaming stootb 
tofttch txxxmb eoerg toay, to keep the frag of the tree of 
iife." Gen. iii. 24. 



JpHhc <3§riurttbim. 



HE third chapter of the Bible has been well 
called " the basis and groundwork of reve- 
lation." It tells us where we are, and from 
whence we came ; how sin entered into the world, 
and death by sin ; and it reveals, if not the origin 
of evil, at least its entrance upon this earth. Dis- 
closing the history of man's transgression, it partially 
lifts the curtain from the scene of the fall. Our 
first parents disobeyed the simple command of God, 
and were expelled from the tree of life and the 
garden of Eden. "And the Lord God placed at 
the east of the garden cherubim, and a flaming 
sword which turned every way, to keep the way of 
the tree of life." 

This first mention of the cherubim is unaccom- 
panied by any description of their nature and ap- 



THE CHERUBIM. 



pearance ; and we may therefore assume that they 
who lived in Moses' time were familiar with the 
cherubic form. 

The appearance of the cherubim varies in Scrip- 
ture. The cherubim seen by Ezekiel beneath the 
throne of God have each four faces and four wings ; 
while the cherubim carved upon the walls of his 
temple have only two faces. The "living things" 
or cherubim of the Apocalypse are represented as a 
fourfold creaturehood, each having a face different 
from the other, and "full of eyes before and be- 
hind." " The first living thing was like a lion ; 
and the second like a calf; and the third had a 
face as a man ; and the fourth was like a flying 
eagle." They had six wings, and were full of eyes 
within. The cherubim were therefore composite 
figures, with a prominence given in their represen- 
tation to the shape and lineaments of man. It is 
said in Ezekiel that " they had the appearance of 
a man ; " and in Revelation that " they had the 
face of a man." Humanity is thus linked to all 
that is highest in the animal creation, — to the 
strength of the lion, the patient industry of the ox, 
and the soaring flight of the eagle. So that we 



THE CHERUBIM. 



151 



have in the cherubic forms a representation of man, 
in which he is invested not only with moral and 
intellectual powers, but with the highest physical 
qualities of the noblest animal existences. 

And why this combination of the human face with 
other creaturely forms ? To show that creaturely 
position, and ministerial service of the most exalted 
and honourable kind, are the attributes of the cheru- 
bim. They are always represented as being in the 
nearest relationship to God, and as stationed where 
Gods holiness more especially dwells. They stand 
at the gate of Eden, ministers of God's judgment ; 
they bend in adoring contemplation over the ark of 
the covenant, looking toward the mercy-seat, — the 
dwelling-place of the great King ; they appear in the 
midst of the rainbow-circled throne, in the very pre- 
sence of Him " who to look upon is like a jasper and 
a sardine stone." 

But why were the cherubim, ideal representations of 
humanity in its highest forms, placed at the east of 
Eden ? That man in his expulsion might be taught 
that there was mercy as well as judgment with God. 
The cherubim with the flaming sword were symbols 
of faith and hope, as well as of terror and dread. 



152 THE CHERUBIM. 

" When the eye of man looked to the sword with its 
burnished and fiery aspect, he could not but be struck 
with awe at the thought of God's severe and re- 
tributive justice. But when he saw at the same time, 
in near and friendly connection with that emblem of 
Jehovah's righteousness, living and life-like forms of 
being, cast pre-eminently in his own mould, but 
having along with his the likeness also of the choicest 
species of the animal creation around him, what could 
he think but that still for creatures of earthly rank, 
for himself most of all, an interest was reserved by 
the mercy of God in the things that pertained to the 
blessed region of life ? That region could not now, 
by reason of sin, be actually possessed by him ; but 
it was provisionally held by composite forms of 
creature life in which his nature appeared as the 
predominating element." 

Why should man despair ? The garden had not 
been swept away from the creation ; the tree of 
life had not been rooted up ; the garden and the 
tree were not entrusted to other orders of being, 
but were given into the keeping of creatures of 
earthly form, and wearing a benign human face. 
There was hope, therefore, that the Paradise lost 



THE CHERUBIM. 1 53 

might be regained ; that there would be a restoration 
of the exiles to the happy home and blissful bowers 
from which they had been driven. And we may see 
goodness as well as severity in the fact that when 
" God drove out the man, He placed at the east of 
the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword 
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree 
of life." 

Such, I think, is the true explanation of the 
cherubim. They were not angels, as they are 
generally regarded ; but they were human symbols, 
and are associated with the church redeemed and 
presented faultless before the throne of God. If the 
cherubim are not angels, the subject may not, with 
strict accuracy, be included in a series of papers on 
angelic ministration ; but as they are usually spoken 
of as angels, it may be considered legitimate, and 
there is in it much material for profitable con- 
sideration. 

In dealing with the theme of man's expulsion from 
Eden, let us endeavour to gain a just idea of the 
position of Adam when he was created and placed in 
the garden of the Lord's planting. This creature 
whom God had "made in His own image/' and had 



154 THE CHERUBIM. 

appointed lord of the earth and its inhabitants, was 
endowed with everything requisite for the develop- 
ment of his nature and the fulfilment of his destiny. 
In Paradise he found his rightful place, — the place of 
free and happy subjection to his Maker. He was 
made to feel his dependence, and to recognize his 
responsibility. He was under law. There was a 
covenant, and there were the sacraments of a cove- 
nant — the pledges of its reality. These were two, — 
" the tree of life," and " the tree of knowledge of good 
and evil." " The tree of life " was the sacrament — 
the sign and seal of the thing promised or guaran- 
teed by God, namely, " eternal life." " The tree of 
knowledge of good and evil" was the sign and seal of 
the thing required, namely, " perfect obedience," to 
be tested and proved by abstinence from a single 
specified act. 

Thus in Paradise man had an outward and visible 
pledge and token, both of the blessing promised, and 
of the terms on which it was promised. By the tree 
of life he was reminded continually of his dependence 
on God. He had no life in himself, — he received it 
from Him in whom alone is life ; and of this derived 
life his continual participation of " the tree of life" 



THE CHERUBIM. 



'55 



was a standing symbol. Again, he was reminded by 
" the tree of knowledge of good and evil " of what 
was his part in the covenant, — of the terms on which 
he as a tenant held the garden from God. This tree, 
suggesting the possibility of evil through disobedience, 
would ratify to him, on compliance with the law of 
God, his enjoyment of the life of God; or it would 
be the occasion of his sin and his death. 

Skch was the original position of man in respect of 
his Maker; a position of grateful dependence, where 
he had but a slight temptation to disobedience ; 
where he had also the fullest scope for delighting 
in God, admiring His works, and enjoying His gifts. 

But let us turn from this happy scene to the 
tempter, the temptation, and the fall. 

" Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast 
of the field which the Lord God had made." 

The agent in the temptation was the evil spirit, 
under the form of the serpent, — that creature " more 
subtle than any beast of the field." The apostle, 
warning us against the malice of the coming foe, who 
"goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
devour," has these words : " But I fear lest by any 
means, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtilty, 

L 



156 THE CHERUBIM. 

so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity 
that is in Christ." Choosing", in his craftiness, the 
weaker of the two human beings, the cunning tempter 
addresses to her the first suggestion of evil. In the 
form of an inquiry on the subject of the Creators 
regulations, he insinuates a doubt regarding the 
goodness of God, and as to the liberality of His gifts : 
"Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree 
of the garden ?" Can it be ? Has He really placed 
you under so unreasonable a restraint ? Instead of 
repelling the insinuation, the woman allows the sug- 
gestion to take effect, and a causeless suspicion to 
rankle in her mind. When she describes the liberal 
gift which God had made, she does so in a way to 
detract from its generosity. " We may eat of the 
fruit of the trees of the garden." What an un- 
worthy way of stating the largeness of the grant 
which God had made ! for He had said : " Of every 
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat." She 
narrows the permission, and magnifies the restriction, 
and seems to think that nothing is granted whilst 
something is withheld. Alas ! Do not all of us in 
this follow the example of our mother Eve ? Are 
we not disposed to think little of the blessings 



THE CHERUBIM. 157 

that God gives, and much of those that He with- 
holds ? If He denies us the fruit of one tree only, 
while He gives us freely to eat of all the rest, the one 
enjoyment, because withheld, is coveted ; the mani- 
fold mercies, because freely given, are lightly es- 
teemed. Let us beware of such a tone and temper 
of mind, and of thinking little of the mercies which 
we have, or hankering after those which we have not ; 
for by allowing ourselves to doubt the Divine good- 
ness, and by cherishing jealous suspicions of His 
love, we are most assuredly preparing ourselves for 
a fall. 

But we not only trace in Eve a disposition to de- 
preciate God's permission to " eat freely of every tree 
of the garden," but also a desire to exaggerate His 
prohibition not to " eat of the fruit of the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil." She magnifies the 
command into an intolerable hardship. " Of the 
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden 
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye 
touch it." She implies that God had forbidden them 
to touch the fruit, though this does not appear from 
the words of God Himself. We should gather from 
Eves account of the prohibition, that God had 



158 THE CHERUBIM. 

guarded the tree with such jealous care that His 
command extended to other senses besides that of 
taste. And yet, while it might have been prudent not 
to touch the fruit, nay, not even to look at the for- 
bidden thing, no such restriction was imposed. It 
was Eve herself who exaggerated the prohibition. 
Alas ! the same spirit is in us still. There are some 
who insinuate that religion is all harshness and gloom, 
and that God is a hard task-master. On the contrary, 
" God hath given us all things richly to enjoy ; " it is 
only the abuse, not the use, of the world which He 
hath forbidden. He only deters us from things which 
bring shame, and dissatisfaction, and remorse, — from 
the wasted life, the weakened powers, the regretful 
memory ; from the thorns that sin plants in the 
dying pillow ; and from the death that can never die. 
Let us believe this. Accepting every restraint He 
lays upon us, and remembering the dignity of that 
" image " and " likeness " in which we were first 
made, let us " walk worthy of the vocation wherewith 
we are called ;" and cleansing ourselves from all 
filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfect holiness in the 
fear of God." 

But Eve not only depreciates God's permission, 



THE CHERUBIM. 1 59 

and exaggerates His prohibition ; she also softens 
down the Divine threatening. God had said, " Thou 
shalt not eat of it ; for in the day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die." But what is her 
version of this strong and unqualified declaration ? 
" Ye shall not eat of it lest ye die." " Lest ye 
die." An expression which implies a doubtful 
peradventure ; a vague and indefinite warning that 
might be braved ; an uncertain risk that might be 
run. Of this incipient unbelief Satan knew well 
how to avail himself. Answering the thought in 
her heart, he said with malicious cunning, "Ye 
shall not surely die ;" adding, as a motive to trans- 
gression, " for God doth know that in the day ye 
eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and 
ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." 
"There is nothing new under the sun.'* How many 
are resting their hope of salvation on the baseless 
fancy that God will not make good His threaten- 
ings. Men, building on a false idea of the mercy 
of God, try to explain away the doctrine of His 
punitive justice. "God," they say, "is too com- 
passionate ;" or, " Everlasting does not mean lasting 
forever;" or, "the fire," and "the worm," and 



i6o 



THE CHERUBIM. 



" the blackness of darkness,'' are but figures, and 
do not really represent the terrible things they ex- 
press. And so they trifle when they ought to 
tremble. 

They who deny that " the wages of sin is death," 
can claim no originality for the idea, — they borrow 
the thought from the father of lies ; the devil said 
so before them. " Ye shall not surely die." Is this 
to be believed, when God hath said, " The soul that 
sinneth, it shall 'die?" When Christ has said, u He 
that believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth 
not shall be damned ?" When God's word gives the 
solemn warning : " Be not deceived ; God is not 
mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the 
flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit 
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting?" Is there no 
hell here in a sinners heart, that men can be so very 
certain that there will be none hereafter ? Is there 
no agony of remorse now ? No gnawings of the worm 
on the conscience ? Has not many a guilty wretch, 
in dread, and anguish, and shame, known even in this 
life the first scathings of " the fire that never shall be 
quenched?" I beseech you to believe all that God 



THE CHERUBIM. 



l6l 



says, — stop your ears to the lies of the devil ; and, 
giving all credit to those passages of Scripture which, 
like the walls of Belshazzar's palace, reveal God's 
anger against sin, flee for refuge to the hope set 
before you in the Gospel. 

To "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and 
the pride of life," — to this trinity of evil that tempts 
man to his destruction, may be ascribed the temp- 
tation and fall of Adam and his wife. There was 
" the lust of the flesh," in that the fruit was desired 
as " good for food;" "the lust of the eye," in that 
the fruit was pleasant to the sight; and "the pride 
of life," in that it was to be desired to make one 
wise. In yielding to these three carnal principles, 
successfully called into action by the tempter, man 
brought ruin upon himself, and misery into the world. 
The immediate effects of disobedience were, a sense 
of shame and a dread of judgment. The guilt of sin 
caused shame ; the curse of sin caused fear. Shame 
and fear caused them to shrink from God, and to 
hate His appearance : so that, flying from Him 
whom they were wont to welcome, they sought a 
dark lurking-place among the trees of the garden. 
But though they hide themselves, there is an eye 



THE CHERUBIM. 



that pierces all darkness, a voice that summons all 
offenders to the bar of God. And now excuses are 
made, which aggravate the transgression they seek 
to palliate. " How are the mighty fallen !" What 
a wreck sin has made of this once noble creature ? 
Adam, with coward baseness, seeks to turn the anger 
of God on the poor trembling woman at his side. 
He would selfishly save himself at her expense. 
" The woman gave me, and I did eat." Nor is this 
all. He would throw part of the blame on God. 
" The woman Thoi^gavest me? "The circumstances 
in which Thou didst place me, more than my fault, 
are answerable for my sin." What a bold insinuation 
that God was to blame in the fall ! Eve, again, cast 
the blame on the serpent. "The serpent beguiled 
me, and I did eat." 

See how shame, and fear, and falsehood, are the 
bitter fruits of sin. And it is ever so. The con- 
sciousness of guilt begets terror. "The wicked flee 
when no one pursueth." There is confusion of face, 
and uneasiness of heart, prompting all sorts of schemes 
for shunning the searching eyes, and evading the 
home question of the Holy One and the Just. And 
when God does find us out, and breaks in upon our 



THE CHERUBIM. 1 63 

" refuge of lies when He calls us forth from our 
concealment, and convinces us of sin ; to what 
miserable shifts and apologies have we recourse ! 
We cast the blame on one another. We even lay 
the guilt of our errors on God. We attribute sin 
to constitutional temperament ; or to the power of 
passion ; or to the suddenness of temptation. But 
these are but idle excuses ; they aggravate the 
offence, and add to our guilt. " Let no man say, 
when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for 
God cannot be tempted of evil ; neither tempteth 
He any man. But every man is tempted when he 
is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then 
when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin : and 
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." 

And now follows the sentence. The serpent shall 
crawl for ever upon the ground, and eat dust mingled 
with its food ; between him and man there shall be 
perpetual war ; until at last the victory be gained 
by a Son of man, the devil defeated, and his power 
destroyed. The woman is to have a destiny of 
suffering : " In sorrow " she is to " bring forth chil- 
dren her dependence and helplessness shall make 
her the servant of the husband whom she led into 



1 64 THE CHERUBIM. 

the transgression, and subject her to his arbitrary 
and often capricious rule — "unto him shall be thy 
desire, and he shall rule over thee." The man also 
is to bear the punishment of sin. " The ground is 
cursed for his sake," — sown with the thorn and the 
thistle, — labour is no longer to be light and joyous, 
but he is to " eat bread in the sweat of his face," 
until he return to the dust from which he was taken ; 
for "sin" has "entered into the world, and death 
by sin." 

Is there no light amid all this darkness ? Yes : 
one bright glimmering ray, ever to wax clearer, as 
the centuries of toil, and sorrow, and anguish, and 
death wear on ; until at length it reaches its full 
splendour in the person of One, at whose birth angels 
shall sing of " Glory to God in the highest ; on earth 
peace ; goodwill toward men." The Seed of the 
woman shall meet, match, and master the tempter. 
Beneath the " heel " of " a Man of sorrows " shall the 
serpent's " head " be bruised. A Son of man is to be 
the Saviour of men ; a Goel-Redeemer is to rise up 
in the family of the fallen, to redeem His brethren ; 
a Victor to appear in the house of the vanquished ; 
and by one that is to die God will " destroy death, 



THE CHERUBIM. 1 65 

and him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil." 

Finally, the last consequence of the primeval sin 
was an exclusion from Paradise, and from the tree 
of life within it. " So He drove out the man; and 
He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cheru- 
bim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, 
to keep the way of the tree of life. The cherubim 
were God's ministers of righteous judgment ; and 
with the sword of flame they guarded the way to 
the tree of life. They kept the way to the tree of 
life from the approach of man. There was mercy 
in this, though doubtless not at the time clear 
to Adam and his wife. They were reluctantly ex- 
pelled from Eden. " God drove out the man." Per- 
haps he lingered at the gate of the garden. How 
shall he quit that fair and tranquil domain, and 
venture on an unknown world, which his own sin 
had sown with the brier and the thorn ? 

Still there was mercy as well as judgment in his 
being kept back by the flaming sword of the cherubim 
from, the tree of life. If the fruit of this tree sustained 
the natural life, and was a security against bodily 
decay, how merciful in God not to suffer man to 



THE CHERUBIM. 



eat of it after he had fallen. For a sinner's im- 
mortality in sinfulness must be wretchedness and 
misery. A race of never-dying sinners would turn 
this green earth into a Sodom or a hell. If there 
is to be a blessed immortality for man, it must be 
entered upon through the grave and gate of death ; 
entered upon as a new gift of God, given only 
through the propitiation of a Substitute, and a 
resurrection from the dead. 

Blessed be God for the grace that made exclusion 
from the garden and from the tree of life not per- 
petual, but temporary! Paradise had been lost by 
sin ; but it was not lost for ever ; the garden was 
still in the keeping of God, and of the guardian 
cherubim. The flaming sword was to be turned 
against the sinner's Substitute, and its fire to be 
quenched in streams of His human blood. The 
last Adam came to restore what the first had for- 
feited. By battle, and suffering, and death, He was 
to vanquish every assault of the tempter ; and by 
anguish voluntarily undergone for the sin of others, 
He was to open the kingdom of heaven to all 
believers. "The kingdom of heaven!" Not an 
earthly paradise, but a heavenly city. Or rather 



THE CHERUBIM. 



would He make heaven and earth one, as in the 
olden time when God used to come down in .the 
cool of the day, and walk in the garden with Adam 
and his wife as friend with friend. There should 
be a bridal of earth and sky ; and two worlds should 
be free to man ; and he should equally be a citizen 
of the "new heaven and the new earth, wherein 
dwelleth righteousness." The garden and the city 
should equally be his home. And oh, that city, 
what splendours are there! "The city has twelve 
gates, and at the gates stand twelve angels," 1 not to 
keep man back, but to bid him welcome once more. 

No material sun lights up the firmament of the 
New Jerusalem ; no moon silvers its night ; for the 
glory of the ever-present Creator illumines it ; dark- 
ness has no place ; the noon-tide is ever at the full. 
It requires "no temple; for the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the temple of it;" and from 
the throne rolls the pure water of life, clear as 
crystal. And on the banks of this river, and in 
the midst of the streets of this magnificent city 
stands the tree of life ; a tree which " bears twelve 
manner of fruits, and yieldeth her fruit every month ; 

1 Rev. xxi. 12. 



THE CHERUBIM. 



and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the 
nations." 1 Would you eat of it, and live for ever ? 
No cherubim guard this tree ; no flaming sword bars 
the way of access to it ; " whosoever will may come." 
" The gift of God is eternal life." The gates of the 
city stand open day and night ; and " whosoever 
will " may enter in. 

And if there be a battle to wage against the world, 
the flesh, and the devil, — not " against flesh and 
blood, but against principalities and powers/'' yet, 
fighting under the Captain of our salvation, we are 
sure to be made more than conquerors through Him 
that loved us. " Take unto you the whole armour 
of God;" fight, and the issue shall be sure. "To 
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree 
of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." 2 
. And though the path of faithful obedience be narrow, 
and beset with difficulties, take courage as you listen 
to the gracious benediction : " Blessed are they that 
do His commandments, that they may have right 
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the 
gates into the city." 3 

1 Rev. xxii. 2. 8 Rev. ii. 7. 3 Rev. xxii. 14. 



X. 



J^HE y^lNGEL OF THE QoVENANT 



" gcholo, 3E sexto an JVujjcI btfovz thee, to keen thee in 
the toag, ani) to .bring the* into the place tohiclt 1 haoe 
prepareo. $ctoare of Sim, ant) obeg ^is bote*, proboks $}hn 
not : foe $)e toil! not pavoon flour transgressions : for iftg 
^tarnr is in ^im." Exod. xxiii. 2c, 21. 




J^lke j^tngcl of the H&obznxnt 




T should rebuke the general indifference that 
is felt on the subject of angelic agency, to 
think of the Scripture testimony on this 
interesting subject. The Bible lays open to us a 
universe peopled with spirits intermediate between 
God and man. If it assigns no time to their creation ; 
if it makes no distinct revelation of their nature, their 
attributes, their number, their character, yet is it 
explicit on the point of their existence, and their 
gracious ministry. Again and again they appear in 
the Old and New Testaments as " God's messengers ;" 
His " ministers ;" as "spirits;" and as "flames of 
fire;" "the holy ones;" "watchers;" and "the 
hosts," or " armies of God." They encamp about the 
righteous, comfort the sorrowful, fight for the good, 

M 



172 THE ANGEL OE THE COVENANT. 

oppose the wicked, smite the ungodly, and perform 
the Redeemer's behests of grace and love on behalf 
of His purchased people. 

Nor have they ever withdrawn from this world. 
The services they once undertook on behalf of God's 
children they still perform. We shall do well to 
realize this truth, and welcome heartily, and suitably 
reverence (not idolatrously worship) these our angelic 
friends. 

I fully admit the point of Bishop Hall's words 
on this subject: "We come short of our duty to 
those blessed spirits if we entertain not in our hearts 
a high and venerable conceit of their wonderful 
majesty, glory, and greatness, and an awful acknow- 
ledgment and reverential awe of their presence ; a 
holy joy, and confident assurance of their care and 
protection ; and, lastly, a fear to do aught that 
might cause them to turn their faces in dislike 
from us." 

But there is in the Scripture the manifestation 
of one Angel, who must be distinguished from all 
others, who is evidently no created spirit, and who 
appears in the Old Testament as "the Messenger 



THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 1 73 

of the Lord;" "the Angel of His Presence;" "the 
Captain of the Lord's Host." This is none other 
than the Eternal Son Himself, who anticipates His 
incarnation, and appears for the purpose of sustain- 
ing the faith and hope of His people, and of keeping 
before their mind the great redemption which was 
to be wrought out in the fulness of time. Some- 
times, indeed, it seems doubtful whether the Divine 
Being or a created angel is alluded to ; but a close 
examination of the context will generally enable 
us to decide the question. 

It is to the several appearances in our world of 
the Word, before His actual incarnation, that I shall 
direct your attention in the present chapter. 

(i.) There can be no doubt that all the visible 
manifestations of the Invisible which are recorded 
in the Old Testament, were manifestations of the 
Son of God. 

We go back to the time just succeeding the fall ; 
when our first parents, hearing the voice of the 
Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of 
the day, hid themselves from the Divine presence 
amidst the covering of the trees. God calls them 



174 THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 

forth from their hiding-place, not only to pass 
sentence of judgment, but to give merciful promise 
of a Redeemer to come. This "voice of the Lord 
God/' 1 who came down to Paradise to wrest the 
victory from Satan's hands, even in the hour of 
his triumph, and to revive hope in the hearts of 
the weeping pair, was none other than "the Word 
of God," who came to reveal the infinite mercy of 
the Eternal Father, who had purposed, by His Son, 
to remove the curse, abolish sin, and open the 
kingdom of heaven to all believers. 

(2.) Hagar, hardly dealt with by Sarah, flies from 
Abraham's tent into the wilderness. The angel of 
the Lord finds her sad, solitary, and homeless, by 
a fountain of water. He speaks comfortably to her ; 
promises that she shall be the mother of an. innu- 
merable offspring ; tells her that the Lord had seen 
her sorrow, and heard the voice of her affliction. 
" I will multiply thy seed exceedingly," 2 said the 
Angel. Who can this be that claims the power 
of creation, and is able to look into the future, and 
forestall what shall come to pass ? Hagar has no 

1 Gen. iii. 8. 2 Gen. xvi. 10. 



THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 175 

doubt on the subject She recognises in the Angel 
one greater than a created being ; and calls the 
name of the Lord that spake unto her, " Thou God 
seest me for she said, " Have I also here looked 
after Him that seeth me ? " 

(3.) As Abraham sits in his tent door in the 
heat of the burning noon, he sees three men ap- 
proaching, to whom he eagerly offers shelter from 
the sun, and the usual courtesies of hospitality. He 
was " not forgetful to entertain strangers," and his 
care and kindness are well rewarded. According 
to the words of the apostle, he " entertained angels 
unawares. " Nor were all of them created angels. 
One was evidently something more. This Abraham 
discovers in the course of the interview. For One 
in particular stands out from the other two as chief 
in honour and greater in rank. It is He who 
addresses Abraham, and who, speaking in His own 
person as God, makes a promise concerning the 
birth of Isaac which God alone can fulfil ; and it 
is He who in the detection of Sarah's secret un- 
belief proves Himself to be the Searcher of hearts. 
He is, moreover, expressly called Jehovah through- 



176 THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 

out the chapter. "And Jehovah said unto Abraham, 
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a 
surety bear a child, which am old ? Is anything 
too hard for Jehovah?" 1 It appears also from the 
narrative, that of the three who came to the plains 
of Mamre in the guise of men, only two go on to 
Sodom. These are the two angels who reach that 
city at even, and find Lot sitting in the gate. The 
third Stranger remains behind, and speaks to Abra- 
ham as the Lord Jehovah about the coming doom 
of the Cities of the Plain, — speaks to him "face to 
face," "as a man speaketh to his friend." Who is 
it, then, with whom Abraham pleads on behalf of 
Sodom and Gomorrah ? It is none other than the 
Second Person in the Trinity, the Lord Himself; 
He it is who, in His unmeasured condescension, 
deigns to pass into the patriarch's tent, and to par- 
take of the patriarch's fare. It is the very Christ 
who in after days entered the home of the two 
disciples at Emmaus, and was " made known to 
them in the breaking of bread." 

(4.) Jacob on his return from Padan-aram is about 

1 Gen. xviii. 13, 14. 



THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 177 

to meet for the first time for many years his brother 
Esau, whom he had foully deceived and deeply 
wronged. He hears that Esau is advancing at the 
head of four hundred men ; and knowing that he 
has reason to dread his vengeance, he is filled with 
fear and dismay. He takes all needful precautions 
to guard his family from evil, and, preparing for the 
worst, sends them over the ford Jabbok, whilst he 
remains alone to pass the night in solitude and 
prayer. In the still, dark night, with silence all 
around, he is conscious of a Presence with which 
he grapples and engages in an actual struggle, as 
with a living man. The two wrestle for the mastery; 
and the long hours of the night pass in that conflict ; 
nor is the victory declared to be on either side "till 
the breaking of the day." As the morning dawns, 
the mysterious Stranger prays to be released from 
the strong grasp of His antagonist: "Let Me go, 
for the day breaketh." 1 "I will not let Thee go, 
except Thou bless me." But He had touched the 
hollow of Jacob's thigh, and it shrank, and was out 
of joint ; and Jacob discovered in Him One more 

1 Gen. xxxii. 26. 



178 THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 

than man. It was none other than the Angel of 
the Covenant. And when Jacob's faith is rewarded, 
and as "a prince having power with God and man" 
he prevails, he calls the name of the place Peniel ; 
" for I have seen God face to face, and my life is 
preserved." Were there any doubt as to the nature 
of the Being with whom Jacob wrestled, it would be 
dispelled by the prophet Hosea, who thus describes 
that night-long struggle at the fords of Jabbok : " He 
had power over the Angel, and prevailed : he wept, 
and made supplication unto Him ; he found Him 
in Bethel, and there He spake with us; even the 
Lord God of hosts ; the Lord is his memorial." 

(5.) Moses, an exile from the Egyptian court, keeps 
the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. He sees some- 
thing which may well fill him with awe. One of the 
thorn-trees of the desert is wrapped in flames, and 
yet the bush is not consumed. As he turns aside 
"to see this great sight," 1 the "Angel of the Lord" 
appears unto him in a distinct form, as He did to 
the three children in the burning fiery furnace ; and 
out of the bush there comes a voice, saying, " I am 

1 Exod. iii. 3. 



THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 179 

the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses 
hides his face, for he is "afraid to look upon God." 

(6.) The Jordan has been crossed, and the children 
of Israel enter the promised land. The hosts are 
encamped before Jericho, about to lay siege to this 
renowned city. If this is taken, a great advance will 
be made toward the conquest of the land. How shall 
it be assailed with most hope and promise of success? 
Joshua goes forth alone to consider the best means 
of attack, and doubtless to pray for counsel and 
direction. He meditates with eyes bent on the 
ground. Suddenly he looks up, and there over 
against him is a man with a drawn sword in his 
hand. Neither daunted nor dismayed, he advances 
to him at once, and flings down the challenge, " Art 
thou for us, or for our adversaries?" 1 Armed as 
thou art, art thou a friend or a foe ? Is thy sword 
to be raised on our side, or on the side of our 
enemies? "Nay," is the answer: as no common 
ally or foe am I come; but "as Captain of the 
host of the Lord." Joshua knows at once who it 

1 Josh. v. 13. 



l8o THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 

is ; and falling on his face to the earth in prostrate 
adoration, he says, " What saith my Lord unto His 
servant?" For he sees in this armed Warrior One 
greater than either man or angel, — One who is 
deserving of all worship and honour. And since 
He who spoke to Moses out of the fires of the 
burning bush, and bade him put his shoes from 
off his feet, for the place whereon he was standing 
was holy ground, now issues the same command 
to Joshua, we may not doubt that "the Captain of 
the Lord's host " was the same as the living God — 
the Angel of the Covenant ; the Second Person in 
the blessed Trinity. 

(7.) Manoah's wife is childless, — a peculiar sorrow 
to a Jewish woman, who may have lawfully cherished 
a hope that she might become the mother of the 
promised Messiah. To comfort and cheer her heart 
the angel of the Lord appears unto the woman, and 
gives her promise of a son, who was to be a Nazarite 
unto God from the womb ; and who should begin 
to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 
Full of the glad tidings, she runs to her husband, 
and eagerly pours the news into his ears: "A man 



THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. l8l 

of God came unto me ; and his countenance was 
like the countenance of an angel of God, very 
terrible." 1 Manoah prays that the man of God 
may be sent again to teach them " what they shall 
do unto the child that shall be born/' The prayer 
is heard. The angel appears to the woman as she 
sits alone in the field ; and she hastens with the 
tidings to her husband, who follows her to the 
presence of the angel of the Lord. " Art thou the 
man," he says, "that spakest unto the woman?" 
"And he said, I am." Then Manoah prays that 
the promise given may be fulfilled ; and asks, " How 
shall we order the child ; and how shall we do unto 
him ?" When he has received the angel's reply he 
fain would detain him further, until they had made 
ready a kid for his use. He refuses, however, to 
eat bread; and if they will offer a burnt-offering, 
it must be offered to the Lord ; for Manoah knew 
not yet that the angel was Divine. "What is thy 
name?" Manoah asks, "that when thy sayings come 
to pass, we may do thee honour?" "Why askest 
thou thus after my name," is the reply, "seeing it 

1 Judg. xiii. 6. 



1 82 THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 

is secret" — or " wonderful ?" And now all doubt 
as to the mysterious Being is dispelled. For when 
Manoah places his sacrifice upon a rock, and from 
this natural altar the fire goes up toward heaven, 
the angel ascends in the lambent flame. Manoah 
and his wife are stricken to the ground in awe. 
And Manoah exclaims, " We shall surely die, 
because we have seen God." 

Such are some of the pre-incarnate manifestations 
of the Saviour. As He appears to the saints of 
the Old Testament in angelic form, they are con- 
strained by something supernatural either in His 
words or actions to exclaim : " Surely we have 
seen God." But " no man hath seen God at any 
time." " Thou canst not see My face and live, 
said Jehovah Himself. 

How, then, are the statements to be reconciled : 
By regarding these appearances* of the Angel of the 
Lord as manifestations of Him who is "the image 
of the Invisible God." 

Thus it was Christ who spoke to Adam and his 
wife in Paradise ; who comforted Hagar in the 
wilderness ; who appeared to Abraham at Mamre ; 



THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 1 83 

who wrestled with Jacob at Jabbok ; who talked 
to Moses out of the burning bush ; who came to 
Joshua as Captain of the Lord s host ; who in the 
flames of the altar went up to heaven in the pre- 
sence of Manoah and his wife. 

It is the great Being to whom my motto refers : 
" Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee 
in the way, and to bring thee into the place which 
I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His 
voice, provoke Him not ; for He will not pardon 
your transgressions : for My name is in Him. But 
if thou shalt indeed obey His voice, and do all that 
I speak : then I will be an enemy unto thine 
enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. 
For Mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring 
thee unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the 
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and 
the Jebusites : and I will cut them off." 

Who could this Angel be who was with the church 
in the wilderness ; whose presence went ever with 
them ; and who finally gave them rest ? Surely 
it was the Angel of the Covenant — the great 
Redeemer Himself 



184 THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 

Behold, therefore, in these manifestations of the 
Saviour, before He came in the flesh, a great evidence 
of His love to mankind. They remind us that " He 
always rejoiced in the habitable part of His earth ; 
and that His delights were ever with the sons of 
men." He was not satisfied to remain apart from 
the world, or to entrust its government to subordinate 
agents, whether man or angel ; but left the heights 
of heaven to carry out in person the good purposes 
of His grace. He came to earth in angelic guise, 
and moved in and out amongst the children of men, 
to show the interest He took in their sorrows and 
troubles ; and to prove that nothing that concerned 
them was beneath His attention and care. And so 
Hagar cannot weep in the wilderness without His 
coming down to guide her to the well ; Abraham 
cannot sorrow over his childless estate without His 
appearing to give him promise of a son in whom all 
the families of the earth shall be blessed ; Jacob 
cannot dread his brother's vengeance without His 
descending to give him confidence in His strength 
and protecting care, — so with His other appearances, 
He would show His saints of old, and us, that He is 



THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 1 85 

ever present with His people ; that His love never 
fails; that His consolations are ever new; that, 
though they see Him not, He is in very truth 
about their path, and about their bed, and spieth 
out all their ways. 

The truth is that Christ was ever with His church, 
and that from the beginning He has acted as her 
guardian and her guide. When Moses suffered with 
the people of God, the reproach that he bore was 
"the reproach of Christ.'' When the Israelites in 
the wilderness murmured and rebelled, they "tempted 
Christ;" when they drank of the rock that followed 
them, " that Rock was Christ" And it ought to 
increase our confidence in Christ, and to give us 
unfailing trust in His mercy, to see how, in the 
earliest ages of the church, He comforted, and 
upheld, and encouraged His people with these 
visible manifestations of Himself as a gracious and 
covenant - keeping God. Truly, He is " the same 
yesterday, to-day, and for ever." He is the same 
Jesus, who, in the days of His flesh, had com- 
passion on the hungry multitude ; pitied the living ; 
wept for the dead ; forgave the fallen woman, and 



1 86 THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT. 

with dying hand opened the door of Paradise to the 
penitent thief. Trusting in Him we trust in One 
whose compassions fail not, whose love cannot change. 
How should such a thought exalt Him in our estima- 
tion, and endear Him to our hearts ! How worthy 
He is of our obedience, and reverence, and love ! 

As in the universe He has the unchallenged pre- 
eminence, so may He have it in our thoughts and 
in our lives! Esteeming Him "the chiefest among 
ten thousand, and altogether lovely/' may we leave 
all to follow Him. Living near to Christ, casting 
on Him our sins and sorrows, and walking in the 
light of His loving countenance, we shall find that 
Pie will make "all things work together for our 
good." " He will keep us in the way, and bring 
us into the place which He has prepared," — a land 
both good and large : where " our sun shall go no 
more down, neither shall our moon withdraw itself ; 
for the Lord shall be our everlasting light, and our 
God our glory." 



LONDON : KNIGHT, PRINTER, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. 



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